Evaluation
The birthday card area showed children at different stages of their knowledge of
birthday cards. Some of the children had a strong idea about birthday cards – they
made them for other people or for themselves. Some of the children liked to touch
the numbers: they either did not want to make a card or did not understand. The
action of putting numbers on the cards was the focus for some children. They may
have been in a connecting schema (see Chapter 3). Some children knew that birth-
day cards had one number on them and you gave them to other people. Birthdays
for some were more personal: Daniel put number four on his birthday card and gave
it to his mum. This was his own personal age number and it was special enough for
his mum. It was also the numeral he recognised and was familiar with. The birthday
writing area facilitated acceptance and understanding of each child’s growth and
concept development of birthday cards. It is important to give children
opportunities to explore different mathematical genres.A number line
The following extract is adapted from Carruthers (1997a) ‘A number line in the
nursery classroom: a vehicle for understanding children’s number knowledge’, Early
Years, Vol. 18, No. 1, Autumn.THE MATHEMATICS number recognition and order, social and personal
numbers, problem-solving and self-initiated mathematics
AGE 3- and 4-year-olds
CONTEXT interacting individually and with others in constructing a
number line
FEATURES understanding children’s number knowledgeIn setting up an environment that encourages and supports children’s math-
ematics in my nursery setting of 3- and 4-year-olds, I decided to put up a number
line with the children’s help. This number line was planned to grow in accordance
with the children’s interests. The number line was going to be a ‘touch and feel’
number line and the numerals would probably be approximately half the height of
a 4-year-old. The number line was based on discussions with children who
volunteered to take part. I explained what a number line was and asked the children
what number they would like to start to make. They decided to begin with number
three. They probably knew more about three than any other number: some of them
were three, some of them had been three, so we started with a very personal
number. It took two months to accumulate numbers to ten and beyond. Eventually
the number line went as far as 22. At one point zero was put up because there was
a space next to the one and that prompted discussion. Each time a group chose a
number they had to estimate where it would go in relation to other numbers. We
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