Week 4 and 5 - Autumn 2 (2023)
We have been focussing on developing the children's mathematical skills during the past two weeks. They have made fantastic progress with this. Our book focus has been Goldilocks and the Three Bears and we have exploring size language. We have also been looking at transport as part of our 'Road Safety' week.
The children have been using their super subitising skills where they look at a number of objects and say what they can see without counting. We ask, 'What do you see?' rather than 'How many are there?' This allows the children to talk about what they 'notice' such as 'I can see butterflies.' They may answer, for example, I can see one and another one and another one, I can see three.' This helps to give them good number sense, understanding that a number is made up of other numbers. We also ask, 'How do you see it?' in addition to 'What do you see?' This enables the children to say, for example, I can see a two and a one, I can see three.' Counting skills are important but developing subitising skills initially gives a greater understanding of number.
Another way of developing good number sense is when we play games such as '3 or not 3'. Many parents have commented that their children are playing such games at home. This helps children to have a really good concept of numbers and their value as they quickly subitise what they can see. They can play this game with any number or play games such as, 'Triangle or not a triangle'. Teaching language in this way, helps to consolidate children's learning by repeating the word and getting a good understanding of what that word means.
The children use five frames to put counters on so that they can visually see how many objects they have without counting. They know that there are five spaces. If they put three counters on it, children are using the language of, 'There are three magnets and two spaces. I need two more to make it full.' They talk about 'full' and 'not full'.
We have also looked at groups of objects and talked about which group has the 'most' and which has the 'fewest'.
The children have been doing activities with shapes, they have matched shapes, talked about their properties and discussed how they are the same and different from each other.
We have completed many puzzles recently varying in difficulty. The children have used mathematical language such as 'straight edge' and 'curved'. They have also developed great problem solving skills, communication and co-operation skills when working together on floor puzzles.
The children have learned a shape song and a clapping song. They have been learning to give one number per clap and counting out loud to make sure that they have done the correct number of claps. We talked about how the last number said relates to how many actions they have done or how many objects they have.
We are so proud of our children who are amazing mathematicians!
Please use the links below with your child so that they can show you how much they have learned!
