hi I too am stuck on this one..
but I wrote this, don't know if its any help??
Mathematical development is extremely important to children’s learning as it is an essential skill, frequently used in everyday life. It helps children to acquire thinking strategies that will help them to solve problems which will then allow them to learn and further develop in other areas. Mathematics stimulates creativity and prepares children for the skills needed in their adult life.
Mathematics introduces concepts, skills and strategic thinking to children. These skills are essential to everyday life and support other areas of development. Mathematical knowledge can help children make sense of patterns, shapes and numbers they will see in the world around them. Eventually they will be able to handle data and make a positive contribution in terms of their development.
Areas of learning are interdependent. This means that no matter which area of development an activity is targeting, that several others will also be developed as well. For example, cookery could be used to support mathematics- shape, space and measurement- cutting the cookies using shapes, and spacing them evenly on trays, and of course measuring ingredients. In this activity other areas are also supported. Communication and language- children will listen to instruction and discuss what they are doing; it also provides an opportunity to extend vocabulary, whilst ensuring you are using language that children understand. There is also opportunity to encourage children to think critically about what they are doing and how they can improve. Physical development- fine and gross motor skills- is also supported, such as gripping or pinching, and stirring and pouring. This activity could also be used to support understanding the world using foods from different cultures and explaining the dangers of hot food etc. Personal, social and emotional development is supported as well as cooking is generally done in groups and children will have to work together, taking turns. Children will also gain a sense of achievement when seeing the end product developing self-esteem and self-confidence. They will also learn about self-care and choices.
Many factors affect the children’s learning of mathematical concepts and in our setting most of our mathematical experiences are supported by adult supported planned activities. Many factors that can affect this our;
- The resources available – If children in a setting have more up to date resources such as modern technology and maths number games etc. then they can consolidate what they have learnt in different ways.
- Supportive adults – The key to successful learning is the teaching. It is key both parents and key workers work together to encourage and praise the child in the world around them to support the development of their mathematical vocabulary in the early stages so they have a basis on which to form mathematical ideas. Adults will engage on a day to day basis so that the children can make sense of the world around them.
- Working alongside other children their own age will allow them to strengthen their learning and language through play.
Without these 3 key areas children will struggle to cope with basic mathematical concepts and at a disadvantage to the rest that are supported and nurtured through preschool and nurseries at an early age.
A.C. 2
Before children start school, most children develop an understanding of addition and subtraction through everyday interactions. Children are using early math skills throughout their daily routines and activities. For example, one child has two cars; another child wants one. After the child shares one, he sees that he has one car left. Other math skills are introduced through daily routes —counting steps as you go up or down.
Young children are learning maths all the time through a wide variety of play experiences. From the time they are born, babies are surrounded by sense impressions. Shapes in particular are of immediate importance: babies react instinctively to the arrangement of shapes which make up the face. It is essential we work in partnership to encourage emergent maths as in all fairness until my daughter went to preschool I had no idea how I could support emergent maths skills and since we have had many faun open days we’ve also set up planned activity tables and advise sheets to parents about how play can really support the children’s development with simple activity’s such as play do and group.
In the home, in parent and toddler groups, and pre-school settings, children have many opportunities to enjoy and learn Maths through Play. “Play is an effective vehicle for fostering Mathematical concepts and developing positive attitudes to mathematics… Adults in the pre-school setting should seek to extend informally the mathematical experiences the children have already had in their home environment.” (Source taken from the Curricular Guidance for Preschool Education)
Maths is everywhere in the home, just as parents we don’t realise when we hold the fun days we inform parents of the way they can support, as children can grasp many mathematical concepts through their play. Examples we have given are;
• encourage the children to take an interest in money as they go shopping with parents
• become aware of numbers as they count the stairs to bed
• start to understand the concept of time as they become familiar with the routine of their day – wash, dress, breakfast etc.
• setting places at the table – a cup for me, a cup for you
• playing with water
• tidying up – putting similar items together
We then have activity tables out for show which help parents to see they can quite easily use these ideas at home through play to learn mathematical concepts.
Sand and Water
• Using sand can develop mathematical concepts and language, e.g. heavy, light, empty, full, big, and little
• Conservation – how much will it hold
• Make shapes and patterns
Play Dough
The use of dough can help to develop a mathematical understanding for pre-school children.
• Develops mathematical language – short, long, fat, thin
• Make shapes of different dimensions – fl at shapes, 3-d shapes
As practioners we may it very clear to the parents how we develop the individual child’s mathematical skills and share any interests the child may have to extend their mathematical skills further.
Unit 3.1
The EYFS requires supports and promotes the theory of learning through play, in balance with learning through focussed activities with an adult - these are two strategies that my setting uses to share ideas and teach maths, and that also enables children to discover and explore maths for themselves. Strategies can also involve open ended tasks that encourage exploration, and multi-sensory activities.
Math isn't just numbers, addition & subtraction. It involves positional, directional and descriptive language - size, shape, pattern, space, time, weight, volume, capacity, measuring, matching, sorting, data representation, estimation, technology and problem solving. So we have and use resources such as the art table, the huddle, water play and cooking activities all to promote mathematical skills. But we also need to bear in mind the mathematical skills we use with a baby will be so much more advanced needed with a 6-7 year old.
The national curriculum 2014 states the areas explored in the later stages of early years being year 1 and 2 are numbers, geometry and measurement and statistics in year 2.
In our setting we recently celebrated the leaving celebrations of our children transitioning to big school by covering a topic on the very hungry caterpillar this involved reading the story, creating art pieces, performing a play and singing songs to do with the very hungry caterpillar. We also had a huge display in the explorer’s room which the children in their key groups were responsible for certain areas in the book. I.e. the penguin group were in charge of creating art pieces about how many pieces of fruit the caterpillar ate and would do a display of different types of fruit and matched them to the story so they had 1 apple to draw, 2 pears, 3 plums, 4 strawberry’s etc. the children then compared the different sizes and shapes of the fruit. In my daughters school they have a maths corner which is a free flow play of mathematical learning with games at children’s height which is easy assessable and they have wall height charts in the outdoor areas so they can compare measurements with friends etc. They also have wall displays catered for maths learning for the children.
A.C.4.1
Scaffolding learning, means providing some kind of framework on paper that will support a child in learning a particular skill.
Scaffolding is an important tool in providing children with the support that helps them to build their confidence so that they can move onto setting out their learning without this aid. Every scaffolding setting opportunity should be relevant, meaningful and purposeful for each child with some adult led play.
Scaffolding should help to build the child’s confidence, to encourage maths to feel important and meaningful to them and to encourage them to be open and discuss different mathematical concepts and ideas which will in turn be used to extend their ideas and suggestions.
I hope this is of some help to you? I don't suppose you could help me??? i'm stuck on analyse reasons for valuing individual interests when supporting childrens emergent mathematical development?
cheers nicky
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