Children\'s Mathematics

Talking to each other and to themselves, they used language relating to measure-

ment such as ‘heavy’, ‘this big’, ‘three long’ and ‘getting bigger’, with general ques-

tions such as ‘how’s your baby doing?’ as they weighed dolls and teddies. The talk

between health professionals and mothers had made an impression on the children

and they were able to integrate some of this specific language and make records on

paper just as they had seen during their visit.

Reception: ‘Catherine’s fractions’

Catherine wrote ‘2’ (reversed) followed by part of a numeral 2 to represent ‘2½’ for

her sister’s age (Figure 2.5). The following day she represented her own age in a

similar way. She used an approximation of part of each numeral to represent a ‘half’.

Figure 2.5 Catherine’s fractions

This example is from Catherine on her first day at school. Although she already

knew the school from many visits and activities arranged through our ‘home/

school’ programme, this was Catherine’s first ‘real’ (whole) day at school as a pupil.

A quiet, reserved child, she was initially hesitant about deciding what to do during

a period of child-initiated play. Catherine quietly told me that her sister was 2½

years old, and after chatting a little more about her sister, she went to draw a

picture of her.

Catherine showed me the drawing: she had written a ‘C’ in the top left-hand

corner of the paper, to represent her own name. I asked if she was going to put

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