sensitively and in an open way, families really appreciate this start to the day and
often younger siblings will join in with the mathematics. A good way to welcome
younger siblings is to have a basket of toddler toys available for them to play with.
There are many ways to share the start of the day with parents.- Morning books –a question or statement is written on the board for parents and
children to answer together in any way. This is an open question to stimulate dis-
cussion, for example:
‘Morning books’ can of course have any title; one teacher I worked with changed
the name to ‘sunshine books’ because she had an afternoon group.- ’All aboard’– on a large writing board, questions can be posed for children, parents
and carers to respond to on the same board. For example, in a nursery class of 3-
and 4-year-olds I wrote:
This was very popular and the parents compared and discussed the dates with each
other. For example one parent told another, ‘my brother’s birthday is one day after
your birthday on the eighth of June: it’s the ninth of June’. The children of course
were listening to this conversation and watching as the parents wrote their dates.
Real conversations have a meaningful power to children.When we have provided a model such as the morning books for the children we
have found that they are very keen to write their own questions for other
children to answer. Parents often provide interesting questions and are keen to
share ideas, and this often develops into an enjoyable time where questions are
puzzled over and laughed about. The fear of mathematics goes, as a safe
environment develops. The families take the questions back to the home to discuss
with other family members.We are collecting birthday dates. Please write
your name and your birthday date below.What do you know about money?Look around the room, estimate what objects are about five centimetres
long.Write down your thinking.146 Children’s Mathematics8657part 2.qxd 04/07/2006 17:22 Page 146