Getting

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Guide

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Welcome to Abacus!Abacus is your unique maths toolkit that’s carefully crafted to help you inspire a genuine love of maths and help every child master the national curriculum.

It’s powered by ActiveLearn Primary, a powerful teaching and learning platform, that together with Abacus, gives you everything you need to plan, allocate and assess all in one place, plus everything your children need for practising maths at school or at home.

This Getting Started Guide has been created to help you familiarise yourself with Abacus, and the features of ActiveLearn, so that you can get going as quickly as possible. We’ve also included information on where you can find additional help and support should you need it.

Don’t forget to visit our member site MyAbacus for more useful tools for introducing Abacus in your school.

You may want to bookmark our member site so you can return to it easily; the full address is www.pearsonprimary.co.uk/myabacus.

All the best,

The Abacus Team

Activelearn Logo v1.0

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What’s inside?Set up your account in 4 easy steps 4 Activate your Abacus Log in Check you have everything you need to run Abacus Create your your school account

The Teacher Toolkit 6 Home Administering your class Planning Searching for resources Allocating resources Assessment in Abacus

The Pupil World 14 Logging in Pupil Home My Stuff My Library My Rewards

Abacus Glossary 17 Resources

Strands

Troubleshooting 21 Trouble accessing ActiveLearn Primary? Forgotten your password? Forgotten your school code?

Further help and support 25

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1. Activate your Abacus subscriptionYou should by now have received an email from us (digital.support@pearson.com) asking you to activate your subscription.

To do this, you simply need to accept our terms and conditions – follow the instructions in your activation email to do this.

You will then receive a second email containing your Abacus login details, including your username and school code with a link to set your password. Click on the link and you’ll get the opportunity to set a password for your account. This information is your passport to the world of Abacus so make sure you don’t lose the email!

Still waiting on your activation email, or having trouble activating? Give us a call on 0845 313 88 88 or email digital.support@pearson.com?

2. Log inVisit www.activelearnprimary.co.uk to log into Abacus in ActiveLearn Primary. You may want to bookmark the site and ask your IT technician to add it to the list of trusted sites on your school network.

Enter your username, password and school code into the login box.

3. Check you have everythingyou need to run Abacus

We strongly recommend using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox web browsers to use Abacus on ActiveLearn Primary.

If you prefer to use Internet Explorer, you will need at least IE9 in order for everything to work as it should.

Whichever browser you are using, you need to make sure it is set as your default. This will ensure that resources always open correctly, and prevent you from being logged out of ActiveLearn Primary. You can set your default browser by going into the ‘Settings’ area within your chosen browser.

Set up your account in 4 easy steps

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4. Set up your school accountOnce you’ve activated your subscription, you can start to import teachers and pupils with your existing datalists, by finding the Admin area at the top right and selecting ‘Import’ in the dropdown. This will walk you through importing your existing datalists. For more help on this feature go to ‘Help’ and select ‘Bulk import’ under ‘Setting up your school’.

Any teacher with an account can add user details for new accounts or edit existing ones.

To check you have everything you need to run ActiveLearn, click on the ‘Run a quick test’ link on www.activelearnprimary.co.uk.

Having trouble accessing ActiveLearn or viewing content? See the Troubleshooting section of this guide.?

For more help on how to add teachers, pupils, classes, groups and cohorts take a look at the Administration section in Help.?

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Each time you log into ActiveLearn Primary, you will be taken to the last place you were when you logged out previously. Clicking on ‘Home’ in the top menu will bring you back to this Home screen.

You can also choose whether you see recently opened documents, suggested resources, or resources you’ve bookmarked (My Files).

Logos for the ActiveLearn Primary subscriptions your school holds. If you only have a subscription to Abacus then the other logos you see here will be greyed out.

Notifications on children who are running low on resources.

Your recent activity (if you are assigned to a class this will just be your activity and the children in your class’ activity).

My Messages section, which will include updates from us on new content, features and Abacus news.

HomeThis is the first screen you’ll see when you log in for the first time.

The Teacher Toolkit

For more detailed help on the Home screen, and guidance on how to personalise your view, see the Homepage section in Help.

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To assign yourself to a class go to ‘Admin’ in the top right-hand corner of ActiveLearn Primary then select ‘Teachers’. Click ‘Bulk Edit Options’ then ‘Set Class’ or ‘Set groups’ to link one or more teachers to a class or group. Please note that as a teacher, you can only be linked to one class.

Administering your classOnce you have assigned yourself to a class you will be able to add notes on all your pupils by clicking ‘Assessment’ then selecting ‘Observations’ and ‘Pupil Profiles’.

For help on how to edit pupils, teachers, classes, groups and cohorts, take a look at the Administration section in Help.?

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To access the planning area click on ‘Planning’ at the top of your screen. Once there, the menu on the left of the screen will help you to navigate between year groups and drill down to the level of detail you want.

PlanningThe Abacus planning area is where all your yearly plans, unit overviews and lessons plans are stored.

For help on how to allocate resources, see the Planning section in Help.

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You can search for resources by year group, strand, objective, type of resource, ability level and classroom management. You can also use the search tool at the top of your screen to identify resources by key words or references.

To access the Resource Finder, click on ‘Resources’ at the top of your screen and select ‘Abacus’.

Searching for resourcesUse the Resource Finder to search for a particular resource to use in a lesson or to allocate to a child.

The Resource Finder works in a similar way to a lot of online shopping websites and is very intuitive and flexible, allowing you to filter search results to find exactly what you need.

For help on using the Resource Finder, see the Browsing Resources section in Help.?

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Please note: practical activities and lessons (anything with an icon rather than a thumbnail) cannot be allocated.

Allocating resourcesYou can allocate resources to a child to look at or work on from home, or in the classroom. Children are awarded coins for every activity they complete which can be spent in the rewards area of the pupil world.

For help on how to allocate resources, see the Allocation section in Help.

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Assessment in Abacus

Assessment testsAbacus includes half-termly assessment tests for Arithmetic and Problem Solving and Reasoning (except at Year 1, where there is one combined Progress Check). These tests are part of our new Progress & Assess tools, and are aligned to both National Curriculum objectives and Pearson Progression Map outcomes.

You can find the tests in the Planning section of ActiveLearn Primary, within the dropdown menus on the left-hand side, which you can find by clicking on the ‘Assessment Toolkit’ link in each term’s ‘Planning’ structure.

Alternatively, you can find tests by filtering by type and by year in the Resources section. Select ‘Tests’, ‘Assessment Guide’ or ‘Progression Map’ to see all of the Progress & Assess resources within Abacus. Please note, selecting ‘Assessment’ will return all of the Practice Activities as well as the Progress & Assess resources.

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If you also subscribe to Bug Club, or to Progress & Assess Reading, you can find all of your assessment resources together in one place by hovering over the Resources link in the top toolbar and selecting 'Assessment' within the Collections section of the dropdown menu.

Read more about the different resources in Abacus in the Glossary within this Guide.?

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Marking guidance for each test can be found as a linked resource. This marking guidance identifies possible errors to look out for and advice for tackling or revising questions that children have answered incorrectly.

Regular testing, or ‘temperature checking’ is a key feature of a mastery curriculum, as it allows you to check children’s understanding at regular intervals and react with your teaching accordingly and helps you see when the majority of children are ready to move on.

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TrackingIn order to get the full value out of the tests we recommend that you enter the data into the Progress & Assess tracker that comes as part of your Abacus subscription.

To find the tracker, hover over the Assessment link in the top toolbar. Select ‘Maths’ under Test Results in the drop-down menu to open the Overview page.

Please note, it is extremely important to ensure your class is assigned to the correct year; if you need to, you can update this information in the Admin area.+

=Then, when you input scores under each term tab, the powerful technology behind Progress & Assess will calculate each pupil’s test score against Age Related Expectations (On track, Working towards, or Below) and provide you with a useful overview to help you monitor progress.

Once populated, the Overview page will show each pupil’s attainment in each half term. In the top left-hand corner you can filter the view to show your class, an entire cohort, or a specific group of pupils.

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Interpreting resultsOnce you have clicked ‘Done’ in a term tab, the page will refresh and display each pupil’s total percentage test score as well as their attainment measure. You can choose to turn the comments on or off by selecting the ‘Show Comments’ box. You can also choose to view your pupil’s results as a percentage, raw score or an attainment measure by choosing your preferred option in the View dropdown.

Setting up groupsYou can set up groups in your class for the purpose of reporting on test results: for example, you could view results for Pupil Premium or EAL children to give you a more granular picture.

Activity reportingWithin the Assessment tab you will also see Activity Reporting, where you will find data from the practice activities your pupils have undertaken at home or in class. This reporting will tell you how well each child has performed at the Bronze, Silver and Gold level of each Individual Practice Game.

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=To find out more about how Abacus supports formative assessment and evidence gathering, take a look at the Guide to Assessment in Abacus

For more help on setting up groups, take a look at the Administration section within Help.

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The Abacus pupil world is where your children log in to watch videos that you allocate to them, play maths games and complete interactive activities. It is also where they can access the rewards they earn by completing games and activities.

Once the accounts have been set up for your class (see the Set up your school account section of this guide), you will have logins for all of your children.

Children log into the pupil world in the exact same way as you, via www.activelearnprimary.co.uk.

The Pupil World

Logging in

You can download login reminder bookmarks from MyAbacus for sending home with children or for keeping in book bags. ?

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Children can personalise their home screen by choosing a world. The worlds differ depending on key stage but include Race World, Skate World and Future World.

My StuffMy Stuff is where children can see resources you have allocated to them.

Pupil HomeOnce children have logged into the pupil world, they’ll arrive at the Pupil Home screen.

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My RewardsMy Rewards is where children go to select their rewards after completing allocated resources.

Here they can customise avatars, decorate a tree house, visit the sticker factory, play games and more. The more allocated resources children complete, the more rewards they can unlock and buy.

My LibraryThis is a store of old resources. It is where resources will go when you de-allocate them. Individual Practice Games will go here automatically as soon as they have been completed.

For more detailed help on the pupil world, see the Pupil section in Help.? 17

Abacus GlossaryResourcesAssessment Guide: a guide containing useful information on how to use the maths tests and progression maps.

Resource type: Assessment, Assessment Guide Example reference: Year 4 Maths Assessment Guide

Assessment Toolkit: found in the ‘Planning’ area of ActiveLearn Primary, after the last week of teaching in each half-term. Each toolkit contains tests, with marking guidance as a linked resource.

Resource type: Assessment

Carpet Maths: a Reception activity for the whole class to do at any time and in any order, such as chanting or singing number rhymes.  

Resource type: Various • Example reference: CM R.1.i

Five-Minute Filler: a quick whole-class activity at KS1 to keep key facts and skills simmering, that requires no resources and can be done at opportune moments.

Resource type: Starter; Play • Example reference: FMF 1.10

Fluency Fitness: a quick whole-class activity class at KS2, to keep key facts and skills simmering – great for having on the board when children arrive in the classroom in the morning.

Resource type: Practice • Example reference: FF 3.1a

Further Extension: a section within a daily plan, linking out to NRICH activities for developing a deep understanding of mathematical concepts and providing further extension.

Resource type: Practice • Example reference: FE 3.1.5

Graded Practice: an editable PowerPoint for use with the whole class, containing carefully graded questions or calculations related to a specific lesson.

Resource type: Practice • Example reference: GP 3.1.1

Guided activity: a practical, small-group activity led by the teacher, to give focused guidance and intervention, and to assess pupils’ understanding.

Resource type: Practice; Assessment • Example reference: Gui 3.2.2

Independent practical activity: a practical, small-group activity related to a specific lesson that children carry out independently to practise skills learnt in the lesson.

Resource type: Practice • Example reference: IP 3.12.3a

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Individual practice game: a fun interactive game, that pupils can use individually to practise key maths skills and facts at school or at home (great for use on mobile devices).

Resource type: Assessment; Homework; Interactive game/activity; Practice Example reference: IPG 1.7a

Interactive screen: an interactive activity for whole-class teaching, that illustrates a specific concept in a lesson plan.

Resource type: Interactive whiteboard • Example reference: Screen 1.6.4b

Lesson: a detailed daily lesson plan, accessible online or in Word, incorporating many of the resources listed below.

Resource type: Lesson Plan • Example reference: Year 1 Lesson 1

Marking guidance: a linked resource, accompanying each test providing important making guidance and advice.

Resource type: Assessment Example reference: Year 4 Autumn 1 PSR Marking guidance

Mixed-age plan: a detailed weekly lesson plan, accessible in Word which includes many of the other resources listed in this Glossary. There are 33 weekly plans for each mixed-age year.

Resource type: Lesson Plan Example reference: Mixed-age Year 1/2 plan Autumn Term 2 week 6

Observation Sheet: a printable PDF for Reception teachers to record their observations about children during a small group activity.

Resource type: Photocopiable • Example reference Observation Sheet SG R.1.i

Problem-solving activity: an interactive activity for use individually, in pairs, in small groups or with the whole class, to stimulate pupils’ imaginations and challenge them to solve contextual problems.

Resource type: Interactive game/activity; Problem-solving and reasoning Example reference: PS 1

Problem-solving and reasoning activity: a practical, small-group contextual problem solving activity related to a specific lesson, supervised by the teacher.

Resource type: Problem-solving and reasoning; Practice Example reference: PSR.C 3.2.5

Progression map: a document listing key outcomes for each term. Individual year group progression maps are provided as PDF documents and an all years progression map is available in Excel.

Resource type: Assessment, Progression Map Example reference: Year 4 Maths Progression Map

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Pupil video: a video to support children in consolidating key maths skills at school or at home.

Resource type: Video; Homework; Practice • Example reference: Pupil Video 2.13

Pupil worksheet: a practice worksheet linked to a pupil video, to help children to consolidate their key maths skills.

Resource type: Video; Homework; Practice Example reference: Pupil Worksheet 2.13 (answers)

Quick Maths: a quick activity for the whole class at KS2, to keep key facts and skills simmering (could be used outside the daily mathematics lesson).

Resource type: Practice; Interactive whiteboard; Starter • Example reference: QM 3.1.1

Quick Maths Driving Test: a fun end-of-week whole-class animated quiz, for use at KS2, for assessing the key facts and skills practised that week in the Quick Maths activities.

Resource type: Interactive whiteboard; Practice; Assessment Example reference: QM 3.1.5

Resource sheet: a printable PDF sheet to make or display practical resources, or worksheets on which children write their answers.

Resource type: Photocopiable • Example reference: Resource sheet 132

Small group activity: a Reception-level adult-led (T or TA) or child-initiated (C) activity for a particular week to be used with small groups of children. 

Resource type: Various • Example reference: SG R.1.iv

Speaking and listening activity: an interactive activity designed to get pairs of children working collaboratively.

Resource type: Interactive game/activity; Speaking and listening Example reference: SL 1 Challenge

Starter: a page of practice questions related to a specific lesson that children work through independently to practise skills learnt in the lesson.

Resource type: Starter • Example reference: ST 1.1.1

Structured play: a play-based, small-group activity, carried out independently or with the support of an adult to practise skills learnt in the lesson in the context of play.

Resource type: Play • Example reference: SP 1.1a

Supported (TA) activity: a practical, small-group activity, led by the teaching assistant to support children in practising skills learnt in the lesson; Year 1 only.

Resource type: Practice • Example reference: TA 1.14c

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Teaching tool: an interactive model or image, for whole-class teaching, that can be customised to fit your teaching.

Resource type: Interactive whiteboard • Example reference: TT 08

Test: Arithmetic and Problem Solving and Reasoning tests (Years 2-6) and Progress Checks (Year 1) aligned to Abacus planning and Pearson Progression Maps with marking guidance as a linked resource.

Resource type: Assessment, Test Example reference:Year 4 Autumn 1 Problem solving and reasoning test

Textbook/workbook page: an interactive activity designed to get pairs of children working collaboratively.

Resource type: Practice; Pupil book • Example reference: Y3 TB1 p12 or Y1 WB1 p12

Whole class activity: a short Reception-level activity suggested for teaching in a particular week; these activities should be used in the order 1-5. 

Resource type: Various • Example reference: WC R.3.1

StrandsAbacus contains thousands of resources, and each one has been linked to one of our Abacus objectives. This means that there are lessons and activities to match every national curriculum aim.

Each Abacus objective sits within an Abacus strand - we’ve listed these below to show you how it works.

Number and place and value

Fractions, ratio and proportion

Decimals, percentages and their equivalence to fractions

Problem solving, reasoning and algebra

Geometry: properties of shapes

Geometry: position and direction

Measurement

Statistics

Mental multiplication and division

Mental multiplication and division

Mental addition and subtraction

Written addition and subtraction

NPV:

FRP:

DPE:

PRA:

GPS:

GPD:

MEA:

STA:

MAS:

WAS:

MMD:

WMD:

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Trouble accessing ActiveLearn Primary?If you are having trouble accessing ActiveLearn or viewing and downloading content, try these steps.

Troubleshooting

1. Make sure you’re using an appropriate browserWe strongly recommend using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox web browsers with Abacus in ActiveLearn. If you prefer to use Internet Explorer, you will need at least IE9 in order for everything to work as it should.

2. Have you tried the ‘Will this work on my computer’ button?

This can be found on the login page. Follow the easy on-screen instructions to ensure your computer is set up in a way that will allow you to use the ActiveLearn Primary site.

3. Have you set your ‘default browser’?

See note above on our recommended browsers. Whichever browser you are using to access ActiveLearn Primary, you need to make sure it is set as your default. This will ensure that resources always open correctly, and prevent you from being logged out of ActiveLearn Primary.

You can set your default browser by going into the ‘Settings’ area within your chosen browser.

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4. Do you have everything you need to run ActiveLearn?

To check that you have everything you need to run ActiveLearn, click on the ‘Run a quick test’ link on www.activelearnprimary.co.uk.

5. Have you got the latest version of Adobe Reader?

If you are having trouble opening PDFs specifically, it’s worth checking to see if you have the latest version of Adobe Reader. To do this, type “latest version of Adobe Reader” into an online search engine to find and download the latest version.

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6. Are you using Internet Explorer?If you are using IE9 or above and are still having trouble, you may need to turn on Compatibility View:

With ActiveLearn Primary open, go to ‘Tools’ (if the Tools tab is not visible, press the ‘Alt’ key on your keyboard)

TSelect ‘Compatibility View Settings

Copy and paste https://www.activelearnprimary.co.uk into the box and click ‘Add’ then close the window.

7. Try clearing your browser’s cacheFirstly try a forced refresh, by pressing Ctrl+F5, to see if this makes any difference.If not, it may be necessary to clear the cache:

To clear the cache on a Windows PC, simply press Ctl+Shift+Delete to bring up the Delete Browsing History option in the browser. From here you can delete the appropriate history files.

To clear the cache on an Apple Macintosh machine when using Safari, click the Safari menu and select ‘Empty Cache’, then click ‘Empty’.

If you are using any other web browser, the command is Shift+Command+Delete (to bring up the Delete Browser History option) where you can then delete the appropriate history files.

8. Is ActiveLearn Primary a trusted site?It’s possible you may need to check that https://www.activelearnprimary.co.uk has been added to your school network list of trusted sites (especially if you have had set restrictions previously). To do so, contact your school’s network technician or, if your school’s internet connection is provided by your LA, get in touch with your LA ICT contact.

Note: You may require admin rights to edit browser/computer settings. Your network technician should be able to apply these changes on the school network. However, some settings might still be controlled or overridden at a Local Authority level.

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Forgotten your password?From the ActiveLearn Primary login page, click on ‘Forgotten password?’ and enter the email associated with your account. If you don’t have an email associated with your account, you can always ask another teacher in your school to change it for you. For help on how to do this, go to ‘Changing a teacher’s password’ in Help.

Forgotten your school code?School codes are the same for all teachers and pupils in your school so if you can’t remember yours, try asking another teacher.

If no one has the school code, call our Digital Support team on 0845 313 8888 who will be able to help.

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If you need any more help or support don’t forget we also have:

a detailed Help Section - just click on ‘Help’ at any point once you’re logged in.

a friendly Digital Support Team team - call 0845 313 88 88 or email digital.support@pearson.com with your query between 8am to 5pm.

Help videos and free support on MyAbacus. You can also access this page through ActiveLearn Primary by selecting ‘Resources’ and the top and clicking on the ‘MyAbacus’ link under the ‘Support pages’ heading.

Professional Development - to help you get to grips with your Abacus resources.

We’re always seeking to improve our service to you and welcome feedback, good or bad. The beauty of Abacus being online and in ActiveLearn Primary is that it has the ability to update and evolve, so if you think we could improve on anything, then let us know! Click on the ‘Feedback’ button in the top-right corner of ActiveLearn Primary when you’re logged in.

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Further help and support

Feedback

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