In order for children to become mathematicians, they need to become numerate.  Numeracy is a key life skill.  It involves being confident with numbers and measures.

• Have a sense of the size of a number and where it fits into the number system.
• Know by heart number facts such as number bonds, multiplication tables, doubles and halves.
• Use wheat they know by heart to figure out an answer mentally.
• Calculate an answer both mentally or written using a range of calculation strategies.
• Recognise when it is appropriate to use a calculator and be able to do so effectively.
• Make sense of a number problem and recognise what operations they can use to solve it.
• Explain their methods and reasoning using correct mathematical vocabulary.
• Know if an answer looks correct and have strategies for checking them.
• Suggest suitable units for measuring and make sensible estimates of measurements.
• Explain and make predictions from the numbers in graphs, charts and tables.

 

Alongside all of this, children need to develop a sense of shape and space, recognising the properties of 2d and 3d shapes, recognising patterns, symmetry and directional and positional language.

In the Early Years Foundation Stage this area of the curriculum, (Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy) is split into 3 sections;

 

*Numbers as Labels and for Counting
*Calculating
*Shape, Space and Measures

In the Early Years Foundation Stage we have several whole class teaching sessions every week. There will also be some small group focus activities carried out with the teacher. The activities that the children do in these small focussed groups enable them to build upon the learning from the whole class sessions.
In addition, as with every aspect of the Early Years Foundation Stage, the children may choose to carry out mathematical activities of their own during their self-initiated (play) time. This could be either inside or in the outside area. Whilst children are self-initiating the adults may observe, and if appropriate, intervene to enable their learning to be taken on further.
One of the classrooms within Blue Unit is the Marvellous Maths room. The children have regular access to this throughout the week.

Our Mathematical activities are very practical.  The children use objects, rhymes and songs in order to develop number skills.  They use everyday shapes in order to recognise the properties of shapes, and they explore equipment such as scales and use it in their own play.

At this stage, the children do very little recording of their work, but towards the end of the Reception Year they will begin to develop this skill.

 

Becoming confident in using numbers 1 – 10 lays all the foundations for further mathematical development.  Children need to be able to know the order the numbers go in and be able to recite them backwards and forwards from any number. 

Most children come into nursery and school already having some number understanding.  They see numbers on doors, car registrations, in shops and on buses etc.  Some children may already know the difference between numbers and writing.  They will also have a grasp of amounts, knowing which is the bigger pile of sweets or if someone has more than them.  They use numbers in their own play such as dialling numbers on the telephone or telling another child how much something costs in the shop.

 

During the year we will be working towards these Early Learning Goals:

 

• Say and use number names in order in familiar contexts.
• Count reliably up to 10 everyday objects.
• Recognise numerals 1 – 9.
• Use developing mathematical ideas and methods to solve practical problems.

 

We provide practical opportunities through:

• Learning songs and rhymes which use the number names such as ‘12345 once I caught a fish alive.’
• Using as many objects as we can to practise counting them effectively.
• Counting sounds we hear or jumps/hops.
• Reciting the number names forwards and backwards to 10 then 20 using a number washing line, counting sticks or our fingers.
• Listening for numbers that have been missed out when counting and correcting it.
• Matching amounts to numbers such as – put 5 acorns by the number that says 5.
• Muddling up the numbers on the washing line and putting them back in the right order.
• Writing the numbers on price tags in the role play shop.
• Playing games that help us with our counting and number recognition such as snakes and ladders, bingo and lotto.

• Solving problems such as laying the table for the 3 bears and checking we have enough of each item or counting out the milks for snack time.

 

• Look for numbers around the house or when out and discuss what they do, such as knowing which bus to catch by the number on the front.
• Sing counting songs and rhymes.
• Encourage your child to count objects such as how many pennies they have to spend on sweets or how many bricks they will need to make a wall.
• Play counting games such as snakes and ladders or lotto.

It is important that your child is able to use their numbers to 10 confidently before moving up to 20 or beyond, so please do spend time doing this first.

 

Children develop their understanding of addition and subtracting through counting the numbers 1 –10.  To start with the children learn about finding one more or less than a number, such as 1 more than 5.  They also do this with objects.  They then learn about making sets of objects, counting how many in each set and then counting them as a whole by combining both sets.  Counting is so important as a stepping stone to adding and subtracting.  Children need to learn practically at this stage and so we use objects or the children themselves to ensure understanding.  We also try to put the learning into familiar settings so that they develop a sense of ‘real life’ mathematics such as at the bus stop.  Children are also taught the different vocabulary for adding and subtracting such as total, more, less, difference, altogether etc.  We then begin to teach them strategies such as finding doubles, counting on from a number, finding a total when one group is hidden, counting how many are left when a group of objects have been taken, and finding different ways of making the same amount.  The children will eventually begin to use the correct symbols for recording their work such as + and -.  However, most of their learning is through practical and hands on activities to ensure that the concepts and understanding are firmly in place.

• In practical activities and discussion, begin to use the vocabulary involved in adding and subtracting.
• Use language such as ‘more’ or ‘less’ to compare two numbers.
• Find one more or one less than a number from one to 10.
• Begin to relate addition to combining two groups of objects and subtraction to ‘taking away’.

 

We provide opportunities through practical activities such as:
• Finding one more or one less using our fingers, number fans, objects and children.
• Finding out how many children are on the bus, how many are left if someone gets off or how many we have if 2 children get on.
• Using objects to make sets and then counting how many we have altogether.
• Finding different ways of making our sets with the same amount of objects.
• Use role play such as buying 2 items in the shop and counting out the right amount of pennies.
• Using cooking to work out how many cakes are in the oven if 3 are on the tray and we made 7 altogether.
• Using dominoes to find doubles such as 3 and 3.
• Modelling how we write out number sentences (sums) using conventional methods.
• Encouraging children to record their number sentences pictorially developing different methods, such as drawing 5 people on a bus and crossing out the 2 that got off to leave the answer of 3.

• Encourage your child to find totals of sets such as how many sausages are on the plate, and how many roast potatoes, so how many altogether.

• Role play shopping and encourage your child to count out the correct money for each item and then the total amount of pennies.
• Talk about adding and subtracting wherever possible.
• Play dominoes or use the dominoes to make simple sums by counting the amount of dots on each section and then how many altogether.

Measuring, shape and space are features of everyday life.  We measure how much cordial to make a drink, or how much wrapping paper we need to wrap a present.  As adults we can guess many measurements through the experiences and repetition of doing something.  For children they need to gain all those experiences.  They need to recognise the position of an object and be able to describe it, for example the remote control is under the settee.  They need to know when something is full and what happens when it is full such as filling up a glass and then spilling it.  They need to know what shapes are like and be able to describe them.  There are many skills that we have that are taken for granted that children need to learn.  They need to be able to use a ruler to draw a straight line or draw around a shape to make a collage.

During the year we work towards these Early Learning

 

• Use language such as ‘greater’, ‘smaller’, heavier’ and ‘lighter’ to compare quantities.
• Talk about, recognise and recreate simple patterns.
• Use language such as ‘circle’ or ‘bigger’ to describe the shape and size of solids and flat shapes.
• Use everyday words to describe position.
• Use developing mathematical ideas and methods to solve practical problems.

We provide practical opportunities through:

 

• Filling and emptying containers in the sand and water trays.
• Weighing objects or parcels to see which is the heaviest and lightest.
• Using scales to find objects that weigh the same.

• Using role play to weigh objects in the supermarket or post office.
• Comparing each other to see who is taller or shorter.
• Counting how many steps we take to measure an object or using our hands.
• Finding out how many cups a jug of water will fill.
• Singing our ‘days of the week’ song in order to sequence the days correctly.
• Talking and sequencing our day using a timetable.
• Playing with clocks and sand timers and finding out what we can do in a minute.
• Talking about what time we do things such as 3 0’clock is going home time.
• Sorting everyday shapes into sets of the same and being shape detectives.
• Talking about what shapes are good for rolling or stacking and investigating this to check it is correct.
• Making pictures and models using shapes and construction kits.
• Finding repeating patterns and making some of our own.
• Giving each other instructions of where to put things such as put the teddy under the bed, or put Goldilocks beside the cooker in the dolls house.
• Programming a Beebot to move around the floor using directional arrows.
• Using ‘maze’ programmes on the computer such as logo.
• Using butterflies to copy symmetrical patterns and making our own.

 

• Encourage your child to help with cooking so that they can use scales and measuring jugs.
• Weigh objects in the supermarket.
• Use construction kits such as lego, duplo, etc.
• Play treasure hunt games where you use positional language such as ‘it is beside the chair and on top of the table’.
• Look for shapes and patterns around the home or outside such as triangular road sign, cylinder tins etc.
• Talk about time by discussing what day of the week it is, what they are going to do during the day, what time they will be doing something and pointing it out on the clock.

 

Teaching children to become problem solvers is vital. This is interwoven within the Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy area of the  curriculum.

Solving problems is about finding a possible answer by using a variety of methods and being able to explain how you did it.  It is a skill that is needed in other areas as well as Mathematics.  Problems generally have more than one solution and no one method of solving it is the correct method.  However children need to learn that there are different methods, but also more efficient methods.  Children need to be willing to have a try and be confident enough to explain what they did.  In order to do this they have to develop enough mathematical vocabulary to help them, and have had lots of practical experiences which allow them to test all the different methods of problem solving. 

 

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, we provide many practical problem solving activities.  Activities such as arranging a set amount of acorns on a tree in as many different ways as they can, or finding out if there are enough bowls and spoons for the 3 bears and how many more we will need, develop children’s problem solving skills.  They learn to find patterns and to recreate them or make simple estimates.  The children learn to apply their knowledge of counting, addition and subtraction and measures through:
• Sorting coins and using the role play shop to buy and pay for items.
• Using other activities such as putting the large bricks back into their box so that they all fit in, or sharing out biscuits so that everybody has the same amount.
• Sorting objects or themselves to make sets which are similar and then making simple graphs or tally charts.  For example, finding out how many children come to school in a car and making a tally chart to show this.
• Estimating how many cars will fit in the garage or what shape is hidden in a feely bag.
• Sorting socks into pairs and then working out how many pairs there are.
• Talking about what they are doing and listening to how others worked out the problem.

• Encourage your child to talk about what they are doing, how they will do something or what they could do next. 
• Encourage your child to help tidy up.  For example, putting all the dominoes back in the box, or sorting the cutlery into the right areas in the tray.
• Encourage them to take responsibility for their pocket money by seeing if they have enough money to buy something, and how much more money they will need!