Children\'s Mathematics

A purposeful mathematical act:

Hall et al. wrote about a conventional nursery class where there seemed to be no evi-

dence of children’s writing and it would be easy to assume from this that children

were not interested in writing (1986, cited in Hall, 1987). However, the authors of

this study changed a non-literate home corner in to a ‘literate’ home corner. When

they added writing materials and utensils in everyday writing contexts (e.g. a

notepad was placed beside the telephone in the role play area), the children became

prolific writers and engaged in a lot of reading behaviours. This we believe can also

be true for mathematics. In another study one of us added additional resources that

offered potential for encouraging writing, mark-making and talk that were related to

mathematics. The outcome was dramatic: whereas no reference or use of mathe-

matical symbols had previously been observed, children now self-initiated mathe-

matical behaviours – including talk and writing – within their play. My observations

showed behaviours such as leaving notes for the milkman, reading the time from a

clock or using a tape measure and writing down a child’s height. If children are used

to writing mathematics, for many different purposes, they will become increasingly

fluent at exploring their mathematical thinking on paper.

Practical steps

Morning books

Parents and carers accompanying their children to school every day can provide the

perfect opportunity to share mark-making and writing opportunities. Some settings

welcome parents into the classroom as soon as they arrive in the morning, with a

question posed on a board for parents and carers to respond to with their children.

This provides an opportunity for a discussion and a talking point, and gives the

parent a chance to join part of the school day with their child. Involving families

offers the child different styles of mathematical writing. It also offers the parent and

teacher time to talk, to share cultural perspectives and to get to know each other. It

gives the child the chance to share school mathematics with their parents. It gives

the teacher a chance to listen to what might be happening in the home. When done

Josh, Josephine and Ellie (3:1 to 3:7) are playing in the home corner.They decide

that Ellie is going to a wedding and she needs a dress. Josephine is going to

make the dress with Josh and he goes to the writing area where he borrows a

tape measure. Josephine puts the tape measure around Ellie’s waist and shouts

‘twelve’.They choose material from the scrap area.They have a discussion about

how long this needs to be for Ellie.They choose some length of pink netting and

Josh says that Ellie could be the bride. Josephine agrees and they return to the

home corner very excited.

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