Children\'s Mathematics

Displays

Displays can provide children with models for written mathematics. It is important

to put up the children’s own representations because this provides positive messages

showing that you value the child’s ideas. Displays in which children become

involved are the most useful, for example where they can respond to a question, a

drawing or an idea. This can be a risky business because in some settings the rule is

tidiness. Children’s work does not always appear to be tidy to a visiting adult. This

is where the teacher’s knowledge in explaining the graphics and the educational

soundness of the children’s mathematics is necessary.

Alex’s rule is that all the numbers that end with 2, 4, 6 and 8 can be shared equally.

Is this always true? Add your comments below.

This giant is 2.5 metres tall.What age do you think he is? Write your answer below.

During a discussion about shapes with 4 and 5-year-olds, two of the children

had suggested that irregular shapes were not ‘real’ or ‘proper’ shapes. Another

child suggested that they could ‘make up’ shapes that no one had previously

drawn. Later she wrote a question in our large morning book: ‘Can you make up

a shape?’

At first children and their families drew irregular ‘blobs’ and some regular

shapes combined. In their descriptions some children used mathematical terms:

some of their labels were often more precise descriptions, e.g. ‘roundy-tri’ for

the circle with a triangle attached. In contrast, labelling an invented shape ‘a

thingy’ did not tell us about its properties. After discussion the children added

the request that everyone should give their shape a mathematical name.

A wealth of invented shapes filled our morning book and each day we

discussed the names they had assigned to their shapes.The children became

rigorous in their evaluation of terms. Increasingly, they extended their

vocabulary so that it became more precise: ‘corners’ sometimes became ‘right-

angles’, ‘straight-sides’ included reference to ‘parallel’ and words such as

pentagon and hexagon were used in context.

It was interesting to note that in a class with 4 and 5-year-olds, at first

children related their invented shapes to something familiar such as a sun (a

curved shape) or a rocket (for a shape with a definite point). As their language

developed during the year, children were increasingly likely to use mathematical

descriptions.When exploring invented shapes later with children a year older,

most of the children described and named their shapes using specific

mathematical language.

Environments that support children’s mathematical graphics 147

8657part 2.qxd 04/07/2006 17:22 Page 147