Coloured Sheep

A Maths Starter of The Day

There are 14 sheep in a field as shown here:

Yellow Sheep Yellow Sheep Yellow Sheep Yellow Sheep Blue Sheep Blue Sheep Blue Sheep Blue Sheep Green Sheep Green Sheep Red Sheep Red Sheep Red Sheep Red Sheep

1. How many sheep can say that there is at least one other sheep here of the same colour?

2. The farmer takes one sheep from the field at random. What is the probability it is
a) Yellow   b) Blue   c) Green   d) Not red ?
[Give your answers as decimals to two decimal places]

 

 

 

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Keywords: Starter | Probability

  • Mr Heeley's Y7 lambs, Rawthorpe High School
  • Monday, May 19, 2008
  • "We think your joke is a bit woolley! We think, however, that this is a fine starter, in fact it's baaarilliant!!
    God bless you x"
  • Mrs. Grace, Hardwick School, South Australia
  • Monday, February 16, 2009
  • "This is a great starter to begin the day with. The students thought that it was great."
  • MSJ, 8x3
  • Tuesday, October 20, 2009
  • "Keenan thought it was Baarilliant."
  • Mrs Porter, Upholland High
  • Monday, November 16, 2009
  • "Fantastic starter - have used it with all years of all abilities Level 4 to A* - just change the questions to get some very difficult conditional probability questions.
    Also planning to use it to introduce ratio - it has been the most useful starter so far."
  • M Phillips, Dorset
  • Thursday, April 22, 2010
  • "Great activity.
    Has the word "not" been forgotten in the part d answer?"

    •  

  • Transum,
  • Saturday, April 24, 2010
  • "Thanks M Phillips for pointing out the error. It has now been corrected."
  • Zoe Thompson, Channing Junior School, Highgate
  • Thursday, January 27, 2011
  • "I found this GREAT!! I loved it and found it challenging but not so I didn't want to do it!
    It has made maths REALLY fun for the kids, and it is a GREAT way for the kids to start the day!"

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This starter has scored a mean of 3.5 out of 5 based on 58 votes.

 

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Answer

1. None, sheep can't talk!

2. a) 0.29
    b) 0.29
    c) 0.14
    d) 0.71

Note to teacher: Doing this activity once with a class helps students develop strategies. It is only when they do this activity a second time that they will have the opportunity to practise those strategies. That is when the learning is consolidated. Click the button above to regenerate another version of this starter from random numbers.
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