Example of mathematics planning and resourcing 2

What we want children to learn (Development matters)

Objectives in bold refer to Early Learning Goals.

Mathematics objectives

• Use language such as 'more' or 'less' to compare two numbers
• Find one more or one less than a number from 1 to 10

Using and applying mathematics

• Sort objects, making choices and justifying decisions

Related Early Learning Goals

• Work as part of a group or class, taking turns and sharing fairly, understanding that there needs to be agreed values and codes of behaviour for groups of people, including adults and children, to work together harmoniously (PSED)
• Be confident to try new activities, initiate ideas and speak in a familiar group (PSED)
• Interact with others in a variety of contexts, negotiating plans and activities and taking turns in conversation (CLL)

Possible contexts

• Provide collections of objects for children to sort, match and count.
• Encourage children to self-register using photographs or name cards, and notice how many children there are.
• Share, recite and encourage joining in with number rhymes and stories using games and books.
• Provide tapes and CD-ROMs of number rhymes and songs for children to listen to.
• Use photographs in the learning environment to ask, for example, how many children are at the water?
• Provide opportunities to share out objects within the group, for example fruit, 'small world' toys or small equipment in the outdoor area.
• Develop interactive displays of objects with prompts for 'more' or 'less'.
• Provide rich resources for number activities through number stories and rhyme sacks with resources.

Example of adult-led activity

Context: Setting up role-play using money

Plan the role-play with the children using a visit, photograph, video or something a family have brought in as a starting point, for example a visit to a local garden centre. Ask the children to record how things are priced using photos or mark making.

Develop the area with the children, encouraging them to make price labels. Ensure that a range of pennies is used that will involve counting out, giving one more, one less, etc. Ask the children to justify choices, for example: if 2 of those cost x should 3 cost more?

Model being a shopkeeper and a customer asking prices, expressing difficulties as you do not have the right change. Ask the children for solutions.

Record solutions using a variety of children's ideas, for example: I found that hard. How shall we help someone else who has a 10p and wants to buy something costing 8p? How could we show that to help them?

Adult role

• Pose problems and questions, for example when children are leaving a group: we had 20; one has gone; how many have we left? Use number staircases to support.
• Encourage children to investigate. For example: there aren't enough. Do we need more?
• Draw attention to comparisons and introduce the language of 'more' or 'less'.
• Model sorting objects and finding 'more' or 'less'.

Opportunities for children to explore and apply

• Using systems for self-registration, ask the children: how many children are here today? Are there more than yesterday? How many more would need to be here for a full class?
• Ask children to share out between a group or the class, for example by cutting and sharing fruit.
• Use number and photo displays to organise the learning environment, for example 4 children in the role-play area; 5 saucepans on these shelves; 10 Bee-Bots in this box.
• Children use the book area to act out or use objects to support number stories, songs and rhymes involving one 'more' or 'less'.
• Provide a range of collections of objects.

Adult role

• Pose problems and questions, for example when children are leaving a group: we had 20; one has gone; how many have we left? Use number staircases to support.
• Encourage children to investigate, for example there aren't enough. Do we need more?
• Draw attention to comparisons and introduce the language of 'more' or 'less'.
• Model sorting objects and finding 'more' or 'less'.
• Exploit opportunities for problem solving when exact numbers are needed. For example: there are 3 chairs on the bus, how many more do we need?
• Prompt questioning through number rhymes and games.

Look, listen and note

• How do children use methods to answer a problem they have posed? For example: Colin and Ben suggest what might be done about the biscuit that is left over when everybody has had one. 'Someone else can have the extra one.' 'Get one more and then we can both have two.'
• What is the variety of responses when children work out a calculation from a story? For example: Merrie said, 'If two more come there will be seven, because five and two make seven.'
• Can they share objects? For example: can they share 8 crayons equally among 4 children and know that each child has 2 crayons?

Assessment opportunities

• Use activities that require limited numbers of children to see if they can work out problems. For example: how many more do we need? We have 4 aprons; is that enough?
• Use a puppet as a prop to ask children questions about numbers from number lines, tracks and songs.
• Observe children in practical contexts, for example a shop or café, to work out how many cakes are left after selling/eating one.

Related Profile scale points

C 3, 7

Example of mathematics planning and resourcing 3

What we want children to learn (Development matters)

Objectives in bold refer to Early Learning Goals.

Mathematics objectives

• Estimate how many objects they can see and check by counting
• Count reliably up to 10 everyday objects

Using and applying mathematics

• Use developing mathematical ideas and methods to solve practical problems

Related Early Learning Goals

• Respond in a variety of ways to what they see, hear, smell, touch and feel (CD)

Possible contexts

• Use collections of rhymes, songs, storybooks and props.
• Provide a variety of objects and collections for children to sort, match and incorporate into play.
• Use clipboards inside and outside in the learning environment and encourage children's mark making of numbers of objects.
• Use washing lines to match objects, and encourage children to find collections of objects to set their own challenges.
• Engage in games and 'small world' play throughout the day and challenge children to estimate quantities and check the number by counting, for example the number of children on the climbing frame; the number of apples in the fruit box; the number of pens in the pot.
• Develop interactive displays of objects with number cards for matching, moving and reordering.
• When tidying up, pay attention to numbers of objects, for example cutlery, construction equipment and garden tools.

Example of adult-led activity

Context: Using a storybook

Read the story with the children, for example Handa's Surprise. Have a basket of the fruit, count them in the basket and illustrate the story as each one is taken.

Provide opportunities for the children to retell the story, for example children telling each other from the book, using toy animals and fruit to act out the story or scan the pages of the story into interactive whiteboard software or into PowerPoint as an electronic book.

Tell the children they can use the fruit to make fruit kebabs. (There are eight types of fruits and animals in Handa's Surprise. Add two to reinforce counting to 10.) Say that the kebabs can have one piece of each kind of fruit. If they don't like some of the types of fruit, they can swap them for ones they do like but they mustn't have more than the number of types of fruit available (10). Encourage their methods in problem solving to work out how many pieces of each fruit they are putting on their kebab when they are leaving some kinds out.

Welcome the children's different ways of recording their recipes for their own kebabs. Share with them how they have represented their different types of fruit and how many they had of each. Count together and see that each kebab was made up of 10 pieces of fruit.

Make a pictogram (could use 2count from the 2simple Infant Video Toolbox) to find out which was the favourite and which was the least favourite fruit.

Adult role

• Model counting in everyday experiences.
• Use a puppet to count wrongly and encourage the children to correct.
• Demonstrate counting accurately during group activities. For example: how many cups do we need? 1, 2, 3...
• Scaffold children's learning by helping them to count accurately in their own play.
• Participate in all areas of children's experience and model counting for a purpose. For example: how many wheels are we going to need on this car?
• Encourage children to make guesses about numbers and then check. For example: let's guess how many objects there are in this box.

Opportunities for children to explore and apply

• In construction and 'small world' play, provide plans for models using photographs or children's own models showing numbers of objects, for example 4 wheels or 10 pieces of straight track.
• Use photographs of numbers of objects and their numerals in the learning environment for children to collect and match when tidying, for example numbers of items of cutlery, cups and plates or construction tools.
• Provide clipboards inside and outside in the learning environment and model uses for shopping lists, recording measurements of, for example, sunflowers growing, turn taking and children waiting, planning picnics/parties, numbers of skips or jumps or other achievements.
• Provide a collection of counting rhymes, songs and storybooks and tapes or CD-ROMs with props. Encourage children to make their own. Model uses and encourage children to share in similar ways with each other.
• Use interactive whiteboard software to re-create stories using numbers of objects, for example 'Goldilocks and the three bears'.
• Make a wide variety of collections available for children to sort, match and incorporate into play, and to hide and find.
• Model games for them, for example dropping objects into a tin and guessing their number by listening to the sounds or asking how many of each object will fit into a matchbox.
• Use dice and domino numbers to help with the visual pattern of numbers. Children begin, for example, to see the patterns of four as two twos, and six as two threes.

Adult role

• Model counting in everyday experiences.
• Use a silly puppet to count wrongly and encourage the children to correct.
• Demonstrate counting accurately.
• Scaffold children's learning by helping them to count accurately.
• Participate in all areas of children's experience and model counting for a purpose. For example: how many wheels are we going to need on this car?
• Encourage children to make guesses about numbers and then check. For example: let's guess how many objects there are there in this box.

Look, listen and note

• Observe how children count an irregular arrangement of up to 10 objects. For example: as Zara dropped pennies noisily into the tin, she said, 'Listen for how many.'
• Note how children count out up to six objects from a larger group. For example, when a group of children were doing a jigsaw together, they shared out the pieces and counted to check everyone had the same number.
• Notice how children represent numbers using fingers, marks on paper or pictures. For example: Kim and Edward made a number track to 10. They then added numbers to 17 when they realised they could throw the beanbag further than they had expected.

Assessment opportunities

• Encourage children to join in rhymes and songs and notice how they are able to count, for example, five little ducks, ten green bottles, five little speckled frogs, five currant buns. Use a puppet to 'speak' and get numbers wrong, encouraging children to correct the puppet.
• Use collections of objects and everyday materials to count, for example when tidying things back into containers or baskets.

Related Profile scale points

NLC 5, 6, 7

Example of mathematics planning and resourcing 1

What we want children to learn (Development matters)

Objectives in bold refer to Early Learning Goals.

Mathematics objectives

• Say and use the number names in order in familiar contexts
• Use ordinal numbers in different contexts

Using and applying mathematics

• Match sets of objects to numerals that represent the number of objects

Related Early Learning Goals

• Work as part of a group or class, taking turns and sharing fairly, understanding that there needs to be agreed values and codes of behaviour for groups of people, including adults and children, to work together harmoniously (PSED)
• Interact with others, negotiating plans and activities and taking turns in conversation (CLL)

Possible contexts

• Share, recite and encourage joining in with number rhymes and stories, using games and books.
• Celebrate number books that the children have made.
• Provide tapes and CDs of number rhymes and songs for children to listen to.
• Use photographs to make children's own number lines.
• Use washing lines for reordering numbers, finding missing numbers and matching objects to numerals.
• Through games and 'small world' play, use the language of ordinal numbers.
• Develop interactive displays of objects with number cards for matching, moving and reordering.
• Provide rich resources for number activities through number stories and rhyme sacks with resources.

Example of adult-led activity

Context: Making number books with children

Make a collection of favourite number books with the children.

Discuss with the children what their similarities and differences are. For example: do the numbers go in order from 1 to 10? Do they go backwards or forwards? What does each book show for the number 3?

Encourage the children to make their own number books in pairs or groups. They will need to decide on the items they want to have a number of. A digital camera could be used for photographing, for example, fruit, children or shoes. A scanner could be used to scan in pictures from books, or children could draw their own pictures. If digital images have been used, an electronic book could be made using interactive whiteboard software or PowerPoint, or a 'talking photo album' could be used.

The children should share the books with each other and take turns in taking them home to share with their families.

Adult role

• Use puppets to demonstrate number order and number matching.
• Model saying and using number names in a variety of contexts, for example counting plates in the role-play area, animals in 'small world' play, collections of objects and games (indoors and out).
• Exploit opportunities for number, for example counting fruit at snack time, when registering children and when organising games.
• Scaffold children's learning by identifying where they are in understanding of number and then planning for next steps.
• Observe children and note possible next steps, for example counts regularly to 5; begins to match numerals to objects up to 10.
• Share books and exploit the number potential, for example looking for number patterns and numbers of objects.
• Encourage children to rehearse number names and order using songs, games and rhymes.

Opportunities for children to explore and apply

• Celebrate the children's number books in the book area for children and adults to revisit and share.
• Where possible, set up interactive displays of the objects children used for their books, for example fruit or shoes. Make number cards that can be moved, rearranged and assigned to the objects.
• Provide materials for children to continue making their own books alongside models.
• Incorporate number lines into the learning environment, both inside and outside. These could be movable, for example on clips on a washing line or hanging on string so that sometimes their order can be 'muddled up' or a number can appear to be missing.
• Make story/rhyme sacks with objects, for example plastic frogs to go with 'five little speckled frogs'. Model their use then let children use them in their play.

Adult role

• Use puppets to demonstrate number order and number matching.
• Model saying and using number names in a variety of contexts, for example counting plates in the role-play area, animals in 'small world' play, collections of objects and games (indoors and outdoors).
• Exploit opportunities for number, for example counting fruit at snack time, when registering children and when organising games.
• Scaffold children's learning by identifying where children are in understanding of number and then planning for next steps.
• Observe children and note possible next steps, for example counts regularly to 5; begins to match numerals to objects up to 10.
• Share books and exploit the number potential, for example looking for number patterns and numbers of objects.
• Encourage children to rehearse number names and order using songs, games and rhymes.

Look, listen and note

• How do children begin to represent numbers using fingers, marks on paper or pictures? For example: Kim and Edward made a number track to 10. They then added numbers to 17 when they realised they could throw the beanbag further than they had expected.
• Do they use number names in familiar contexts? For example: Daniel and Esther each collected a large pile of stones. Daniel said, 'I think I've got 30.' Esther replied, 'No you haven't. I've got more than you and I've counted mine and I've got 27.' They counted Daniel's pile and laughed when they realised that many of his stones were smaller and he had 42.
• Can they recite the number names in sequence, counting forwards or backwards? For example: the children play a game where one of them selects and hides an object while the others close their eyes. Before they open them they count, '10, 9, 8... 0'.
• Are they able to sign number names in order from 1 to 10?

Assessment opportunities

• Use a number track or 'washing line' of numbers. Can children count the numbers starting at 1 or at another number? Can they place a shuffled set of numbers in order? Can children identify missing numbers? Can they say what comes next without seeing the numbers?
• Can children work cooperatively with other children on counting activities? Do they engage willingly in problem-solving activities such as: how many of us are in this play area? How many pieces of apple do we need for a piece each?
• Can children use number names confidently in favourite number rhymes? Can they follow a number trail or a number story?

Related Profile scale points

NLC 4, 5, 6

Example of mathematics planning and resourcing 6

What we want children to learn (Development matters)

Objectives in bold refer to Early Learning Goals.

Mathematics objectives

• Sort familiar objects to identify their similarities and differences
• Count how many objects share a particular property, presenting results using pictures, drawings or numerals

Using and applying mathematics

• Sort objects, making choices and justifying decisions

Related Early Learning Goals

• Explore colour, texture, shape, form and space in two or three dimensions (CD)

Possible contexts

• Provide plenty of experience of sorting and classifying groups according to their own criteria to allow recognition of properties of regular shapes and other objects.
• Sort and classify leaves, fruit, clothing, recycled materials and natural objects according to their properties.
• Use computer programs to enable this information to be represented pictorially, for example charting eye colour, pets, favourite food or favourite colour.
• Provide collections of resources and clipboards, large pieces of paper and mark-making tools or large chalkboards.
• Use everyday activities such as snack time as a vehicle for encouraging mark making and sorting according to preference. For example: who would like apple and who would like banana?
• Use an interactive whiteboard with a variety of clip art pictures or photographs that can be moved to show the similarities and the differences between groups.
• Use collections of shapes and hoops for children to classify.

Example of adult-led activity

Context: Collecting leaves

Rake up leaves together in autumn or visit a local park. Make a collection of leaves with a variety of colours and shapes.

Sort the leaves with the children, asking about their reasons for grouping certain leaves together.

Describe and compare their leaves, noticing similarities of properties. Notice whether there are groups of more or fewer leaves with a particular property - count to make sure - and ask them why they think that might be. Let them select a set according to its shared property.

Ask them if they would like to draw their leaves, spray paint over them or make leaf prints. Make a pattern of the leaves and display these alongside the leaves and photographs of the trees. They could attach lines matching their leaves to the trees they come from.

Adult role

• Exploit everyday opportunities for sorting, matching and categorising things in everyday life by involving children in organising and labelling equipment, organising games, monitoring attendance, and voting to make decisions.
• Observe children making collections of objects in their freely chosen activities and make use of these opportunities by encouraging mark making and representing the situation pictorially.
• During real-life problems, encourage children to consider how objects may share particular properties. For example: how many children are wearing red?
• Encourage children to explore problems, to make patterns and to count and match together.
• Provide help for those children who use a means of communication other than spoken English in developing and understanding specific mathematical language.

Opportunities for children to explore and apply

• Provide model-making and pattern-making materials and work alongside children as they build. Encourage children to talk about sorting the objects for use. Discuss their reasons for choice, noticing the properties they choose.
• Provide activities that encourage children to describe and explain, for example a 'feely bag'.
• Make collections of natural objects for children to sort, match and describe, for example leaves, cones, shells and stones. Help them to make comparisons, and introduce mathematical language through modelling.
• Provide a rich range of materials for pattern making both inside and outside in the learning environment.

Adult role

• Exploit opportunities for sorting, matching and then counting groups, for example counting fruit at snack time, registering children, organising games.
• Observe children making collections of objects in their freely chosen activities and make use of these opportunities by encouraging mark making and representing the situation pictorially.
• During real-life problems, encourage children to consider how objects may share particular properties. For example: how many children are wearing red?
• Encourage children to explore problems, to make patterns and to count and match together.
• Provide help for those children who use a means of communication other than spoken English in developing and understanding specific mathematical language.

Look, listen and note

• How do children show curiosity and observation by talking about shapes, identifying how they are the same or why some are different? For example: Danny decided to make a box for his model. He chose a piece of card that was an appropriate shape for the base and different shapes for the sides.
• Can children match shapes by recognising similarities and orientation? For example: when Stevie looked at a rhomboid she said 'It looks like a boat.' She picked up a triangle and observed, 'This one's different. It's only got three points.'

Assessment opportunities

• Use events such as snack time to observe how children can sort out items, for example numbers of children wanting apple or banana.
• Observe how children begin to make pictorial representations of collections of objects.
• During events such as snack time, do children successfully sort out items, for example for the number of children wanting apple or banana?
• Can children identify appropriate properties and use these to sort and classify collections of objects, describing what they have done?
• Can children sort a collection of shapes/objects according to one property and then re-sort them using a different property?

Related Profile scale points

SSM 2, 8

NLC 8p

Example of mathematics planning and resourcing 7

What we want children to learn (Development matters)

Objectives in bold refer to Early Learning Goals.

Mathematics objectives

• Recognise numerals 1 to 9

Using and applying mathematics

• Match sets of objects to numerals that represent the number of objects

Related Early Learning Goals

• Recognise and explore how sounds can be changed, sing simple songs from memory, recognise repeated sounds and sound patterns and match movements to music (CD)
• Explore and experiment with sounds, words and texts (CLL)
• Retell narratives in the correct sequence, drawing on language patterns of stories (CLL)

Possible contexts

• Share number books and rhymes involving numerals, for example Ten, Nine, Eight  by Molly Bang, and home-made number books of all kinds, for example zigzag books.
• Use resources such as number lines, tracks and staircases and interactive displays involving numerals.
• Engage children in practical activities that are underpinned by developing communication skills.
• Engage in activities that are imaginative and enjoyable and that follow children's interests.
• Exploit real-life problems. For example: how many spoons do we need for everyone in this group to have one?
• Give children sufficient time, space and encouragement to use new words and mathematical ideas, concepts and language during child-initiated activities in their own play.
• Exploit problem-solving opportunities, for example with 'small world' play.

Example of adult-led activity

Context: Five little monkeys

Share 'Five little monkeys jumping on the bed'. Sometimes alter the number to numbers under 10. Develop a rhyme sack including a tape of children singing, pictures, objects and numerals. Hold up a numeral and start with that many monkeys.

Discuss making a display of the rhyme. The display could be made for a wall in the room, a shelf top, an interactive whiteboard or as an electronic talking book using software such as Textease or PowerPoint.

Make the display with the children, encouraging them to make choices. For example: how shall we make the monkeys? Shall we use clip art or photographs of ourselves? Shall we have masks? Make the numerals and numbers of monkeys removable and put them in a box next to the display for the children to add and play with.

Demonstrate using the display to say the rhyme. Sometimes take away a number of monkeys and the matching numeral and ask: how many silly monkeys are missing today? Or muddle up the order for the children to correct.

Adult role

• Scaffold children's learning in role-play activities to support and extend their recognition of numerals, for example shoe sizes or labelling of items for the grocer's shop.
• Discuss numbers of objects in real-life contexts, for example numbers of chairs at a table or children in a group. Encourage children to find the numerals from large number lines, grids or washing lines.
• Support children's recognition of numerals in cooking activities, for example following a recipe with numbers of ingredients.
• Create opportunities for children to be involved in making displays, for example a display about birthdays, numbers of pets, house numbers.

Opportunities for children to explore and apply

• Incorporate number lines into the inside and outside learning environment. These could be movable, for example on clips on a washing line or hanging on string, so that sometimes their order can be muddled up or a number can appear to be missing. Add bags to the number lines with numbers of objects that the children can change, for example 1, 2, 3, 4 shells or 9 shells, 8 twigs, 7 pebbles, etc.
• Laminate photographs of the children so that they can be used in number lines outside. (Pencil will last longer in the sun than pen.) Encourage the children to think of inventive ways to show numbers of themselves, for example 1 child waiting on the bench, 2 children chatting on the bench, 3 children playing on the bench, and so on.
• Make story/rhyme sacks with tapes, pictures, objects and numerals. Model their use and then let children use them in their play.
• Play 'match the number'. Bury numerals in sand, two of each number. Children have to find a number then find its partner. This can be extended to finding the number that came before or the number that comes after.
• Make numerals using objects found outside.

Adult role

• Scaffold children's learning in role-play activities to support and extend their recognition of numerals, for example shoe sizes or labelling of items for the grocer's shop.
• Support children's recognition of numerals in cooking activities, for example following a recipe with numbers of ingredients.
• Create opportunities for children to be involved in making displays, for example a display about birthdays, numbers of pets, house numbers.
• Observe children who notice numbers in the learning environment.

Look, listen and note

• How do children use personal numbers such as their age, house number, number in their family, number of pets? For example: when Simeon pointed to the number 5 on the telephone, he said, 'That says five and I'm five.'
• Take note of the numerals children recognise during number rhymes and games that they choose to play with independently.
• Observe how children engage with songs, rhymes and stories that display numerals and question children to prompt for further information.

Assessment opportunities

• Observe how children spot numbers on calculators, tills, number tracks, clocks, books and in rhymes and the learning environment. Use these contexts to check that children can recognise all the numerals from 1 to 9.
• Observe children during games that use a dice and a number track or number square.
• Use a number walk around the local environment to see which numerals children recognise, for example on road signs and in shop windows.

Related Profile scale points

NLC 4, 5

Example of mathematics planning and resourcing 4

What we want children to learn (Development matters)

Objectives in bold refer to Early Learning Goals.

Mathematics objectives

• Know that numbers identify how many objects are in a set

Using and applying mathematics

• Match sets of objects to numerals that represent the number of objects

Related Early Learning Goals

• Be confident to try new activities, initiate ideas and speak in a familiar group (PSED)
• Attempt writing for different purposes, using features of different forms such as lists, stories and instructions (CLL)
• Use their imagination in art and design, music, dance, imaginative and role play stories (CD)

Possible contexts

• Establish role-play that has a focus on number, for example a shoe shop or grocer's shop.
• When tidying up resources make sure that, for example, jigsaw puzzles go in the right box and hats go in the dressing-up box.
• Provide clipboards and notepads next to construction and building equipment or in the outdoor area.
• Provide materials for children to make number books, for example favourite numbers or telephone numbers.
• Provide resources to support number rhymes and songs.
• Use signs around the setting to show purposeful contexts, for example a sign for the number of aprons or a large number track.
• Use stories such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Goldilocks and the three bears to set problems.
• Engage in cookery activities, for example following a recipe.

Example of adult-led activity

Context: Using construction equipment

Model using plans for building constructions. Make some plans using photographs of models during different stages. List what is needed using numbers next to sets of objects.

Suggest to the children that they could make some for others to copy. Help them gather the materials they will need to make their plan: construction toys, a digital camera, paper and pencils and number cards. The children could work with a friend or in small groups.

Discuss with the children the need to make a simple model that they will be able to take apart and make again so that they can record the different stages of building, for example a vehicle or a bug.

Support them in recording each stage of their model making through drawings or photographs. The children can arrange these in sequence and add a list of what was needed using numbers next to sets of objects.

Encourage the children to have a go at making models from each other's plans.

Question the children about what helped them to read the plans. For example: has your bug got the same number of eyes as the plan? How did you know how many to add?

Adult role

• Model counting and matching numerals, for example by finding a numeral card to show how many children are at an activity and putting it on a number line.
• Scaffold children's learning in role-play activities to support and extend their language and thinking, for example encouraging them to make marks to signify how many in a set.
• Discuss numbers of objects in real-life contexts, for example numbers of chairs at a table or how many children in a group.
• Support children's recognition of numerals in cooking activities, for example following a recipe.
• Create opportunities for children to be involved in making displays, for example their own pictograms of lunch choices.

Opportunities for children to explore and apply

• Put numbers on some resources for children to count and check when they tidy up, for example 9 pieces of jigsaw in a box; 12 balls in a tub; 20 farm animals in a tin; 30 beads in a basket.
• Find real-world containers to add to role-play that have numbers on them indicating how many are inside, for example egg boxes with 6 and 12 eggs, 4 yoghurts, 6 rolls.
• In water and sand play, use containers with measurements on the side. Use containers that double in size and number them with 1, 2, 4, etc. Ask the children how many of one will fit in another. Do the numbers help?
• Use programmable toys and model giving instructions to one another to find some treasure. Use cards to support following the instructions, for example a forwards arrow displaying the number of times it is to move.
• For role-play use catalogues that show items in sets with numbers on the packets, for example 2 pairs of socks or 6 plates. Encourage children to relate to their experiences and support their mathematical language as they search through the pages. For example: are there cups sold in packs of 6 that would go with the plates?
• Provide transport tickets for role-play, showing numbers for cost, for example 5p. Encourage children to provide the correct number of pennies for each ticket.
• Provide plenty of number cards and lines inside and outside in the learning environment so they can be modelled and used spontaneously. For example: can you hop this many times (hold up a number card)?

Adult role

• Provide resources for children to make marks when playing mathematics games. Use chalkboards and clipboards in the outdoor area, for example labelling groups of objects in the role-play shop or making marks to show how many times the ball landed in the bucket.
• Encourage groups of children to set their own problems using an outdoor washing line and ranges of resources. For example: where is the numeral to describe how many children have curly hair? How many have glasses?
• Scaffold children's learning in role-play activities to support and extend their language and thinking, for example encouraging them to make marks to signify how many in a set.
• Support children's recognition of numerals in cooking activities, for example allowing children to follow a recipe independently.
• Remind children how many things they need to collect from home for an activity. For example: ask them to bring in five recycled materials for model making.

Look, listen and note

• How do children count from a larger group? Do they say one number name for each person before going into the hall for PE or when they find three others to be in their group of four?
• Observe when and how children use number names in familiar contexts. For example: Daniel and Esther each collected a large pile of stones. Daniel said, 'I think I've got 30.' Esther replied, 'No you haven't. I've got more than you and I've counted mine and I've got 27.' They counted Daniel's pile and laughed when they realised that many of his stones were smaller and he had 42.
• Are children beginning to represent numbers using fingers, marks on paper or pictures?

Assessment opportunities

• Observe children playing with number lines, counting objects in collections and recording numerals.
• Ask questions such as: what should we try next? How shall we do it?
• Observe children in role-play, for example in the café or as they label resources for the setting or for the shop.
• Check which numbers each child can consistently recognise and match correctly to a set of objects.

Related Profile scale points

NLC 6, 8

Example of mathematics planning and resourcing 5

What we want children to learn (Development matters)

Objectives in bold refer to Early Learning Goals.

Mathematics objectives

• Count aloud in ones, twos, fives or tens
• Count repeated groups of the same size
• Observe number relationships and patterns in the environment and use these to derive facts

Using and applying mathematics

• Describe solutions to practical problems, drawing on experience, talking about own ideas, methods and choices

Related Early Learning Goals

• Extend their vocabulary, exploring the meanings and sounds of new words (CLL)
• Speak clearly and audibly with confidence and control and show awareness of the listener (CLL)
• Maintain attention, concentrate and sit quietly when appropriate (PSED)
• Look closely at similarities, differences, patterns and change (KUW)
• Move with confidence, imagination and in safety (PD)

Possible contexts

• Sort real objects and pictures into sets of equal number while counting aloud.
• Move along an outdoor number line, for example jumping forward in twos.
• Provide help for those children who use a means of communication other than spoken English in developing and understanding specific mathematical language.
• Use groups of children to count in pairs. For example: encourage children to share small outdoor equipment in pairs.
• Engage in 'small world' play using animals or cars.
• Use washing lines for group activities or small number lines next to resources.
• Give children sufficient time, space and encouragement to use mathematical ideas, concepts and language during child-initiated activities in their own play.

Example of adult-led activity

Context: Real-life counting opportunities - counting wellington boots and gloves

Question the children. For example: we know how many children there are in the class, but do we know how many feet/hands are in the class? Have we got enough wellington boots for all those feet? Are there enough gloves for all those hands? How could we find out? Children could make their suggestions and have a go at their solutions. They may try: matching objects to children; counting in ones, matching their counting to feet; mark making using pictures or tallies or counting in twos for each child.

Children should share their own methods and discuss the results. Did they all get the same answer? How did they get it? What helped them? Model one or two possibilities, for example counting aloud together children's feet/hands in ones and twos.

Show photographs of hands on the interactive whiteboard or on a felt board so they can be moved. Ask the children to arrange them so they can be counted easily. Count together in twos. Make mistakes, leaving out a number or adding in an odd number. Let the children correct you.

Ask if they can work out how many fingers are on those hands. Remind them of the ways they have found useful so far: tallies, pictures, counting in sets, etc. Share results as above and count together in fives.

Adult role

• Provide activities that are imaginative and enjoyable, for example activities that build on children's interests.
• Use puppets to demonstrate counting along a number line.
• Model saying and using number names in a variety of contexts, for example counting plates in the role-play area, animals in 'small world' play, collections of objects and games (indoors and outdoors).
• Exploit opportunities for number, for example counting fruit at snack time, registering children, organising games.
• Scaffold children's learning by identifying where they are in understanding of number and then planning for next steps.
• Observe children and note possible next steps, for example counts regularly to 5, begins to match numerals to objects up to 10.
• Share books and exploit the number potential, for example looking for number patterns in a number rhyme book.
• Encourage children to rehearse number names and order using songs, games and rhymes.
• Model mathematical vocabulary during the daily routines and throughout adult-led activities.

Opportunities for children to explore and apply

• Share rhymes and songs that involve counting in twos, fives and tens forwards and backwards, for example '2, 4, 6, 8, Mary at the cottage gate'; '1, 2, buckle my shoe'; '10 fat sausages sizzling in the pan'. Provide resources for retelling these rhymes independently through rhyme sacks or scanned images for the interactive whiteboard or a story board.
• Encourage counting in groups of the same size during role-play. For example: we'll need enough for 6 of us. 2, 4, etc. If 2 can fit on each seat in the train, how many passengers can you take? 2, 4, etc. When organising groups, ask whether they can get in pairs to go to lunch. Have we got everyone? Let's see, that's 2, 4, etc.
• Provide transparent number squares and glass beads on light boxes or OHPs for pattern making. Model covering up every other one or covering up the row of tens and counting out the pattern. Can they make their own patterns?
• Put up pictures, for example balloons, on an interactive whiteboard or felt board and numerals in multiples of 2, 5 or 10. The objects can be sorted into sets, numbered and counted.

Adult role

• Provide activities that are imaginative and enjoyable, for example activities that build on children's interests.
• Use puppets to demonstrate counting along a number line.
• Model saying and using number names in a variety of contexts, for example counting plates in the role-play area, animals in 'small world' play, collections of objects and games (indoors and outdoors).
• Scaffold children's learning by identifying where they are in understanding of number and then planning for next steps.
• Observe children and note possible next steps, for example counts regularly to 5; begins to match numerals to objects up to 10.
• Encourage children to sing rhymes and make up their own, for example changing familiar rhymes.
• Share books and exploit the number potential, for example looking for number patterns in number rhyme books.
• Encourage children to rehearse number names and order using songs, games and rhymes involving counting in twos, fives.

Look, listen and note

• Observe the way children count repeated groups of the same size. For example: how do they count the number of socks in five pairs?

Assessment opportunities

• Observe children and note possible next steps, for example counts confidently in pairs; experiencing counting in fives and tens.
• Observe children and their ability to count repeated groups of the same size, for example counting hops in ones, twos or threes.
• Are children able to observe number patterns using number grids, number lines, games and stories?
• Are the children able to join in rhymes such as '2, 4, 6, 8, Mary at the cottage gate'?
• Can the children count confidently in twos (pairs)?
• Can they count along large number tracks marked out in fives and tens?
• Can they count on or back in tens starting from a given multiple of 10, for example start at 30 and count to 80? Do they know the next one in the sequence, for example when counting in tens what number will come after 60?

Related Profile scale points

NLC 5, 6