Children\'s Mathematics

Charlene, 4:10, made sense of this task by focusing on the writing and naming of

numerals (see Figure 9.5b). She chose to write lots of numbers and in discussion with

an adult named the numerals she had written. She was not yet quite clear about the

names of some numerals and this is why she focused on them. She is experimenting

with the shapes of numerals. For example, she could not name the eight she had

written but she said ‘this is a round one’ and ‘this is another round one’. She also

said she was trying to find the same numbers. Charlene needed more opportunities

to write numerals as this is where her interest lies. Extending the writing area to

include numerals and more mark-making equipment including numeral stamps

would interest Charlene. She was also interested in such self-initiated opportunities

as writing down phone numbers in a play situation.

Figure 9.6a and b Kamrin’s division

Kamrin, 5:7, invented his own system of checking. He worked through three

examples consistently using his checking method (see Figure 9.6a and b for two of

these). He depicted different stories. On his first paper he made up the ‘Tweedle’

birds and each bird has four eggs. He then wrote the numeral eight and a question

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