Player A

1
Playing board for the game Crooked Rules
Hundreds
Tens
Ones
Player A Player B Player C Player D
Presentation slide 1.1
2
Key features of mathematics within the Primary
National Strategy

• The strategy involves
• 1. A structured, daily mathematics lesson of
  4560 minutes, depending on the childrens ages.
  There is usually a different structure to
  teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage
• 2. An emphasis on mental calculation with oral
  and mental work in each lesson
• 3. Direct teaching of the whole class, with as
  many children as possible taking part
• 4. Group work in which children in three or four
  groups work at different levels on the same topic
• 5. Regular activities for children to do out of
  class and at home
• 6. The renewed Primary Framework offers teachers
  guidance on planning and teaching to help all
  children to learn mathematics and make good
  progress

3
Teaching an Early Years Foundation Stage class

• Emphasis on practical, active, imaginative and
  enjoyable activities
• Children are given many opportunities to develop
  their speaking and listening skills
• Include problem solving in a practical context
• The environment, daily routines and activities
  will be planned to give children opportunities
  for mathematical learning
• Children will be given opportunities to practise
  and talk about their developing understanding in
  a broad range of contexts both indoors and
  outdoors
• Teachers put greater emphasis on using stories,
  songs, rhymes and finger games to help with
  counting
• Mathematics is not taught in isolation, but as
  part of a broad, rich curriculum
• Children in Early Years Foundation Stage classes
  need a balance of adult-led and
  children-initiated learning, both outdoors and
  inside.

4
The daily mathematics activity in the Early
Years Foundation Stage

• An activity with a group or the whole class,
  often involving counting, songs or stories
• Adult-led activities for smaller groups of
  children, focusing on the main topic of the day
  or week
• Play activities, initiated by either the teacher
  or the children themselves
• Review of learning with the whole class when the
  activities have ended, not necessarily every day

5
Video clip working with children in the Early
Years Foundation Stage

• 1. How do the TAs involve the children?
• 2. What sort of questions do they ask?
• 3. Do they help children to work and play
  together in any way?
• 4. How do they develop mathematical vocabulary?
• 5. How successful are they in helping the
  children learn new skills?
• 6. What else could they do to help the children
  with their learning?

6
Working with individuals and small groups

• Get children talking about what they are doing
• Help them understand what they are doing
• Help them to work and play together
• Familiarise them with the rules of mathematical
  games
• Help them to develop, learn and use new
  mathematical language
• Help them to use mathematical resources
• Ask them open questions to get them thinking
• Observe, talk and listen to them to find out what
  they have learned
• Encourage and celebrate success

7
Ten Nice Things
Player As objects
Player Bs objects
8
Helping children to use correct mathematical
language (1)

• Encourage children to talk about what they are
  doing or what they have done, and to listen to
  each other
• Use mathematical language with children and
  encourage them to use it as well
• Value childrens own spontaneous mathematical
  language, such as if they say Mines a pointy
  one to describe an angle
• Offer more precise ways of saying the same thing,
  such as replacing Its a round with Its a
  circle when replying to a child

9
Helping children to use correct mathematical
language (2)

• Model language by describing what children are
  doing as you work alongside them
• Extend what children have said in different
  words for example So youve shared these out
  has everyone got the same number now?
• Set up activities that encourage children to
  describe and explain what they encounter for
  example Say what you can feel in the feely bag
• Encourage children to compare one thing with
  another for example How are the two shapes
  different?
• Use stories, songs and rhymes
• Use child-initiated learning as a context for
  developing mathematical language

10
Taking part in role-play (1)

• To ensure that children understand that
  mathematics is an enjoyable and useful tool for
  solving practical problems that arise during
  child-initiated activities, TAs could model the
  following play situations
• Paying for an object in a shop using coins or
  notes, or by writing a cheque
• Weighing fruit and vegetables in a greengrocers
  shop, ringing each price into a till and telling
  the customer how much the items will cost
  altogether
• Looking for a bus number and then buying a bus
  ticket
• Looking up a telephone number and dialing it
• Reading a clock in a home corner and saying what
  may happen at the time shown

11
Taking part in role-play (2)

• Also
• Measuring for curtains, wallpaper or shelves in
  the home corner
• Weighing out ingredients for cooking
• Weighing a baby in a clinic, reading the dial and
  recording the measurement
• Counting out the right number of plates, knives
  and forks to lay the table in the home corner

12
Notes for the teacher

• Learning objective for the lesson
• Begin to relate addition to combining two groups
  of objects
• Feedback notes
• Hassan can count on from the first group of cubes
• Gemma and Jack know that you should count how
  many cubes there are altogether
• Asha counts each group of cubes separately but
  cant get to the total number yet

13
Open and closed questions
Closed questions
Open questions
What is this shape called? Which one has
straight edges? How many corners has this
one? Which is round?
What can you tell me about this shape? What can
you say about the edges of this shape? And the
corners? How are these two shapes different?
14
When children have difficulties

• If children are having difficulties, you could
  ask
• What have you done so far?
• What do you think you need to do next?
• Have you done anything like this before?
• Is there anything you could use to help you?

15
Challenging questions to ask

• If children are having difficulties, you could
  ask
• How many cubes do you think are in that tub?
• Are there enough biscuits for all of us?
• Why do the cylinders roll better than the cubes?

16
How would you tackle these calculations?

• 23 9
• 19p 18p 21p 25p 22p
• 4358 843 276

17
Counting and recognising numbers

• Say and use the number names in order in familiar
  contexts such as number rhymes, songs, stories,
  counting games and activities (first to 5, then
  10, then 20 and beyond)
• Count reliably up to 10 everyday objects (first
  to 5, then to 10, then beyond) giving just one
  number name to each object. Recognise small
  numbers without counting
• Recognise numerals 1 to 9, then 0 and 10, then
  beyond 10

18
Counting skills (1)

• Knowing the number names in order
• Synchronising saying words and pointing
• Keeping track of objects counted
• Recognising that the number associated with the
  last object touched is the total

19
Counting skills (2)

• Recognising small numbers of objects without
  having to count them
• Counting things you cannot move or touch or see,
  or objects that move around
• Counting objects of very different sizes
• Recognising that if a group of objects already
  counted is rearranged then the number of them
  stays the same
• Counting out a number of objects from a larger
  set, knowing when to stop counting

20
The daily mathematics lesson

• Whole-class/group activity
• Oral work and mental calculation for the
  whole class to rehearse and sharpen skills
• Main part of the lesson
• Interactive teaching input and child
  activities including work as a whole class, in
  groups, in pairs or as individuals which for
  Early Years Foundation Stage may be group
  activities over the morning or day
• Review and assessment of childrens learning
• All children involved
• Clearing up any misunderstandings and
  identifying progress
• Summarising the key learning points and what
  children should remember and discuss
• Identify progress
• Next steps

21
Language and mathematics

• Children talking and listening to each other and
  adults
• Adults listening to children's responses
• Different kinds of questioning

22
The role of the TA in the whole-class/group
activity (1)

• Being responsible for a small group of children
  to ensure they take part in the lesson by

• encouraging them to join in counting activities
• encouraging them to concentrate and take part
• having a smaller version of the resource used by
  the teacher
• helping children to use resources such as fan
  cards

23
The role of the TA in the whole-class/group
activity (2)

• Also
• repeating discreetly questions the teacher asks
  and helping children find an answer
• encouraging those who lack confidence and are
  reluctant to join in
• alerting the teacher if a child has an answer
• observing children and making notes about their
  responses to questions
• if asked, working with a small group of children

24
The role of the TA in the video

• How did Angela support the children?
• What sort of questions did she use to encourage
  the children to think and work things out?
• What opportunities are there for the children to
  apply what they are learning?
• Why is it important for the TA to be involved in
  planning and review with the teacher?
• Why are the links between assessment, planning
  and learning so important?
• How did they keep the focus on learning in a
  play-based environment?

25
Working with a group

• How would you support children as they learn the
  key words?
• How would your role be different if you were
  supporting children in their self-chosen play
  activities around the classroom?

26
The TAs role

• when working with a group
• Modelling how to use the key words
• Encouraging children to say the key words
  together as a group
• Encouraging children to demonstrate that they
  know what the words mean
• Reinforcing social skills such as taking turns
  and listening to one another
• when children are engaged in self-chosen
  activities
• Playing alongside them, providing a running
  commentary on their actions and where possible
  modelling the key words
• Making sure they use correct vocabulary

27
Giving feedback

• You could
• mention any misunderstandings children had in
  relation to the work
• state how far the children got with the activity
• list what they found easy and/or hard
• mention a child who has done particularly well or
  who has found the work particularly difficult