Rich mathematical environments for learning
Inside one classroom
Karen teaches 4- and 5-year-olds: her classroom is at the heart of a very large
Victorian building in a London school. As I walked in I could feel the positive and
calm nature of the setting. The room was well ordered: children could see what
there was to do and all was easily accessible. However, the room was not
clinically tidy. There was a sense of industry: the classroom was alive.
Children were actively engaged and involved in all kinds of play inside and
outside the classroom. Harriet and Muna selected large pieces of paper to draw
on and to think together about on the carpet. Children’s own drawings and
writings covered every space on the walls from top to bottom. All about the
classroom the displays beckoned children to respond. Children had made their
own signs, for example, ‘Don’t splash me it’s not nice’. Kirsty and Leojon picked
up the teacher’s counting stick and started counting. The teacher asked them if
they wanted to put numbers on it and they agreed. The teacher gave them an
unopened pack of bright orange ‘Post-it’ notes. Kirsty opened them and gave
Leojon some and they both wrote numbers and put them on the stick.
Above all, I noted that there was a sense of respect shown to the children:
they were listened to seriously and their ideas and contributions were
acknowledged. It is in such an enabling environment that children’s own
mathematics can thrive.134
Environments that
Support Children’s
(^8) Mathematical Graphics
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