Poster of The Quangle Wangle's Hat - Pearson Schools

Bring creativity into your
maths class with.....
The Number Nonsense Competition
Would you like your pupils to get even more out of maths?
And would you like your school to have the UK’s most
innovative maths software to support your teaching?
Ginn, publishers of Abacus Evolve, are running a national competition called ‘Number
Nonsense’ to inject even more fun and creativity into maths classes and to ensure children
really enjoy learning maths skills.
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Abacus Evolve helps children understand maths by using the popular characters from
The Quangle Wangle’s Hat poem, written by 19th century British poet, Edward Lear,
famous for The Owl and the Pussycat. In the Abacus Evolve programme, Quangle Wangle
characters represent maths skills; for example Pobble (who has no toes) counts in 1s, Attery
Squash counts in 5s and the Frog (that hops backwards), represents subtraction.
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1. This competition is run by Harcourt Education Limited of Halley Court, Jordan Hill, Oxford, OX2 8EJ
2. The competition is for UK primary schools entering on behalf of their pupils aged from 5 to 7 years old with drawings
of their nonsense character, a title, the Maths skill their character represents and by providing full contact details.
3. Entry is restricted to those currently attending a UK Primary School.
4. Only one completed entry per child
Pobble -
Counts in 1s
How to enter the competition
To take part in the competition, all the children have to do is create their own
character to represent any maths skill. To enter we’d like the children to:
• Decide which maths skill they’d like their character to represent
• Draw or paint a character
• Give the character a name
The child who creates the best character (to be judged by Ruth Merttens) will win a £50 Toys R Us voucher and the
school will win the latest Abacus Evolve Solve the Problem and Talk Maths multi-user CD ROMs worth £400.
The competition is open to all primary school children aged between 5 and 7 years.
Please send your entries to Judy Anders, Heinemann Primary, Halley Court, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8EJ.
The deadline for entries is 31st December 2005.
5. Closing date for the competition is 31st December 2005
6. The winners name will be announced in the first 2006 e-newsletter
7. Our decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into
8. The competition is not open to any employees of Harcourt Education Limited or their families.
Attery Squash -
Counts in 5s
B645
The Frog -
Subtracts

The Quangle Wangle’s Hat
a poem by Edward Lear
On the top of the Crumpetty Tree
The Quangle Wangle sat,
But his face you could not see,
On account of his Beaver Hat.
For his hat was a hundred and two feet wide,
With ribbons and bibbons on every side
And bells, and buttons, and loops and lace,
So that nobody ever could see the face
Of the Quangle Wangle Quee.
The Quangle Wangle said
To himself on the Crumpetty Tree,
Jam; and jelly; and bread;
Are the best food for me!
But the longer I live on this Crumpetty Tree
The plainer than ever it seems to me
That very few people come this way
And that life on the whole is far from gay!
Said the Quangle Wangle Quee.
But there came to the Crumpetty Tree,
Mr. and Mrs. Canary;
And they said, Did you ever see
Any spot so charmingly airy?
May we build a nest on your lovely Hat?
Mr. Quangle Wangle, grant us that!
O please let us come and build a nest
Of whatever material suits you best,
Mr. Quangle Wangle Quee!
And besides, to the Crumpetty Tree
Came the Stork, the Duck and the Owl;
The Snail, and the Bumble-Bee,
The Frog, and the Fimble Fowl;
The Fimble Fowl, with a Corkscrew leg;
And all of them said, We humbly beg,
We may build our homes on your lovely Hat,
Mr. Quangle Wangle, grant us that!
Mr. Quangle Wangle Quee!
And the Golden Grouse came there,
And the Pobble who has no toes,
And the small Olympian bear,
And the Dong with a luminous nose.
And the Blue Baboon, who played the flute,
And the Orient Calf from the Land of Tute,
And the Attery Squash, and the Brisky Bat,
All came and built on the lovely Hat
Of the Quangle Wangle Quee.
And the Quangle Wangle said
To himself on the Crumpetty Tree,
When all these creatures move
What a wonderful noise there’ll be!
And at night by the light of the Mulberry moon
They danced to the flute of the Blue Baboon,
On the broad green leaves of the Crumpetty Tree,
And all were as happy as happy could be,
With the Quangle Wangle Quee.