Children\'s Mathematics

At home – Matt’s numbers

Matt ‘read’ his spontaneous scribble, ‘I spell 80354’ (Figure 2.1).

Figure 2.1.Matt’s numbers

• Matt knows that marks carry meaning and that they can sometimes represent
  numbers.


• Perhaps he was using a phone number as a reference point for the numbers he
  talked about.


• It is possible he drew on previous talk within his family, about how to spell either
  his own or his brother’s name, and has linked this with the marks he made on
  paper.

Whilst he talked about numbers in relation to his marks, it is unclear that he set out

to represent them. However, my interest may have encouraged him to attach some

meaning to what he had done. Matt is growing up in a family in which his marks

and early representations are encouraged and valued. It is also a family in which

reading books, using a computer and writing at home are daily events: talking about

these tools and the contents of books and written texts is also part of the family’s

daily experience.

Matt was 3 years and 1 month old at the time he made these marks. At home with

his older brother, Matt said he was ‘drawing’. I was sitting writing postcards at the

table nearby and Matt’s 4-year-old brother was playing computer games. Matt

rapidly covered a number of pieces of paper with a range of marks (see Figure

2.6). He showed this example to me and I asked him to tell me about it.

Making marks, making meaning 15

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