Children\'s Mathematics

the mark-making. There needs to be places to draw, sketch, write and make all sorts

of mathematical marks. Large paper with space to make marks, perhaps on big car-

peted areas, provides the children with freedom to explore large movements on

paper together with different scales and sizes of paper and drawings. Clipboards are

useful for travelling to different areas in the school and for outside work – and young

children love the feeling of importance when they collect information with the help

of a clipboard.

Figure 8.3 List of patients

The garden centre

The way in which the environment is shaped is also significant. For example, whilst

we advocate that children have opportunities to mark-make, we are also saying that

there needs to be freedom of movement within this. We are not saying that children

should be sitting down holding a pencil at a table for most of their day. A classroom

full of tables and chairs would not be conducive to young children’s own

mathematics.

The setting must also be accessible to the children. It is hard for children to take

notice of labels and displays if they are near the ceiling and adult orientated. Dis-

plays and signs are better placed at children’s height starting from the floor up and

not the ceiling down. A useful thing to do is to get down on your knees and look at

the classroom from a child’s eye view.

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