Children\'s Mathematics

These examples show a progression in the way in which the children have chosen

to represent data and in their layout. Other children drew lunch-boxes, plates, and

children’s faces or wrote names. Afterwards they ‘read’ their registers, allowing them

to see the different ways others had represented data. These frequent opportunities

provided the children with useful models of data representation from their peers and

they were often able to suggest ways in which they could add information to help

someone else to read what they had written.

There are many other regular opportunities for collecting and representing data in

Early Years settings including session registers and lists for different purposes. The

key significance of such events is that they provide opportunities for representing,

reading and discussing meaning in authentic contexts. Such examples provide

powerful foundations for later formal data handling in mathematics.

Graphs

A graph or chart is an easy and potentially purposeful mathematical representation. It

is useful to provide a range of graphs that children can read. These can be commer-

cially produced graphs and also those that have been drawn up by the teacher about

the children. These are then displayed on the walls for children to read. It is important

to note that the graphs displayed reflect a range of layouts and that they do not always

need to be done by the children. Graphs and tables provide models for discussion and,

if purposeful, children then can see the application of data handling.

Number lines

There are many different kinds of number lines that can be displayed in the class-

room. They are used for different purposes: as a reference for the children to use if

In one setting of 3- and 4-year-olds, children were responsible for collecting the

choices for mid-morning staff drinks.The children took a clipboard to collect the

drink choices of the staff.They then read their information to the member of

staff who made the drinks.

One day Natasha, 4:6, brought a piece of paper and a pen when I did the dinner

register and this led many other children to choose to make their own during the

term. Gemma, 4:4, (Figure 8.12a) used marks with some approximations of

symbols (‘0’ and ‘+’) whilst Natasha (Figure 8.12b) focused on the concept of a

list including some ticks and circles. Alice, 5:3, used only two symbols (one for

each type of lunch) and refined her layout (Figure 8.12c).

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