Thinking and Learning About Maths in the Early Years (Nursery World Routledge Essential Guides for Early Years Practitioners)

128 Pages·2008·0.66 MB·English

by  Linda Pound

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4 Thinking and Learning
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6 about Mathematics in
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the Early Years
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3111 How can early years practitioners help young children to become not only
4 numerate but also aspiring mathematicians who love numbers, shapes and
5 mathematical comparisons?
6 The introduction of the Foundation Stage has led to practitioners seeking
7 ways to teach maths that are more in line with the creative and playful ways
8 young children learn other subjects.
9 Linda Pound draws on current thinking about children’s mathematical
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of any child in the early years by linking maths to everyday life situations and
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making it a playful and enjoyable cross-curricular activity.
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This highly practical and engaging text includes chapters on:
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4 (cid:1) why maths is often seen as ‘hard’and what practitioners can do to help
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young children be more successful
6 (cid:1) exploring shapes,space,measures and patterns
7 (cid:1) how to make maths more fun and playful,using games,humour,stories
8 and rhymes
9 (cid:1) using music and dance to enhance mathematical understanding
30111 (cid:1) encouraging children to see the connection between maths and everyday
1 experiences through,for example,sorting,matching and guessing
2 (cid:1) creating an environment for mathematical development, indoors and
3 out.
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Concluding with a chapter on how practitioners and parents can become more
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confident in their use of maths,this user-friendly text,packed full of ideas,is
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essential reading for practitioners in any early years setting.Students on Early
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Education courses will also find much here to inspire them.
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9 Linda Pound is an Early Years Education consultant and a regular contributor
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The Nursery World/Routledge
Essential Guides for Early Years Practitioners
Books in this series,specially commissioned and written in conjunction with Nursery
Worldmagazine,address key issues for early years practitioners working in today’s
nursery and school environments. Each title is packed full of practical activities,
support,advice and guidance,all of which are in line with current government early
years policy.The authors use their experience and expertise to write accessibly and
informatively,emphasising through the use of case studies the practical aspects of the
subject,whilst retaining strong theoretical underpinnings throughout.
These titles will encourage the practitioner and student alike to gain greater confi-
dence and authority in their day-to-day work,offering many illustrative examples of
good practice,suggestions for further reading and many invaluable resources.For a
handy, clear and inspirational guide to understanding the important and practical
issues,the early years practitioner or student need look no further than this series.
Titles in the series:
Circle Time for Young Children
– Jenny Mosley
Helping with Behaviour:Establishing the Positive and Addressing the
Difficult in the Early Years
– Sue Roffey
Identifying Additional Learning Needs in the Early Years:
Listening to the Children
– Christine Macintyre
Understanding Children’s Development in the Early Years:Questions
Practitioners Frequently Ask
– Christine Macintyre
Observing,Assessing and Planning for Children in the Early Years
– Sandra Smidt
Supporting Multilingual Learners in the Early Years:Many Languages –
Many Children
– Sandra Smidt
Essential Nursery Management:A Practitioner’s Guide
– Susan Hay
Drama 3–5:A Practical Guide to Teaching Drama to Children in the
Foundation Stage
– Debbie Chalmers
Playing and Learning Outdoors:Making Provision for High Quality
Experiences in the Outdoor Environment
– Jan White
Encouraging Creative Play and Learning in the Early Years
– Diane Rich
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Thinking and
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6 Learning about
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Mathematics in the
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Linda Pound
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NURSERY
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WORLD
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First published 2008
by Routledge
2 Park Square,Milton Park,Abingdon,Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave,New York,NY 10016
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library,2008.
“To purchaseyourown copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,an informa business
© 2008 Linda Pound
Allrightsreserved.No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical,or other means,now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording,or in any information
storage or retrieval system,without permission in writing
from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Pound,Linda.
Thinking and learning about maths in the early years/Linda
Pound.– 1st ed.
p.cm.– (The nursery world/Routledge essential guides
for early years practitioners)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Mathematics – Study and teaching (Early childhood).
I. Title.
QA135.6.P67 2008
372.7 – dc22 2007040791
ISBN 0-203-92878-4 Mastere-bookISBN
ISBN10:0–415–43235–9 (hbk)
ISBN10:0–415–43236–7 (pbk)
ISBN10:0–203–92878–4 (ebk)
ISBN13:978–0–415–43235–1 (hbk)
ISBN13:978–0–415–43236–8 (pbk)
ISBN13:978–0–203–92878–3 (ebk)
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Contents
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Introduction 1
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1 Is maths hard? 3
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2 There’s more to maths than numbers 13
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3 Maths is about life 22
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4 Looking for patterns 31
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5 Playing maths 40
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6 Thinking maths 55
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7 Talking maths 65
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8 Creative maths 76
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9 Creating an environment for mathematical
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development 86
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10 Confident adults supporting confident mathematicians 96
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Conclusion 105
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7 References 107
8 Children’s books 112
9 Index 115
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Tables
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3111 3.1 Examples of the ways in which mathematical thinking and
4 learning can be developed 23
5 4.1 Descriptions of the development of pattern in young children 34
6 4.2 Developing pattern across the curriculum 38
7 5.1 Demonstrating the development of child-initiated mathematical
8 thinking and learning 43
9 5.2 Extending child-initiated mathematical thinking and learning 45
20111 5.3 Showing examples of opportunities for extending mathematical
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2 8.1 Theoretical rationale for adopting creative approaches to
3 mathematics 78
4 8.2 Picture books that can be used as starting points to develop
5 mathematical thinking and learning 81
6 9.1 The mathematical potential of areas of provision for children
7 up to the age of three 90
8 9.2 Enhancing outdoor provision to promote mathematical thinking
9 and learning 94
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Introduction
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3111 This book is about young children’s mathematical development.The area
4 of learning and development that practitioners have been accustomed to
5 thinking of as mathematical development in the foundation stage has been
6 closely linked to mathematicsor numeracy in the National Curriculum and
7 Primary National Strategy for numeracy.With the publication of the Early
8 Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) (DfES 2007),practitioners are now having
9 to get used to calling the same set of early learning goals Problem-solving,
20111 Reasoning and Numeracy (PSRN).However,whatever the name of the
1 area of learning and development,there are a number of issues associated
2 with it.In addition,practitioners who work with children up to the age
3 of three will be used to thinking about development in the way outlined
4 in Birth to Three Matters(Sure Start Unit 2002).The framework’s focus on
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(cid:1) a strong child
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(cid:1) a skilful communicator
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(cid:1) a competent learner,and
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(cid:1) a healthy child.
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has now to be merged with ways of thinking about the growth of children’s
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understanding in terms of the areas of learning and development.
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This book will focus on the importance of making mathematics in the
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early years playful and cross-curricular.Many books about maths aimed
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at early years practitioners talk mostly about what adults will do.The
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part that children play in that process (with the support of adults) is often
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neglected. In this book the emphasis is on the value of child-initiated
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activity.This book will also underline the value of practitioners working
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closely with parents and carers since they know their own children best,
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and their involvement in learning is invaluable,in mathematics as in all
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other areas of learning and development.
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