EYFS Mathematical Fluency Project Thursday 11th October 2018

Developing Number Fluency… For children in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) to achieve ‘mastery’ they need to have an in-depth and deep understanding. Problem solving underpins all mathematical activity. Children become number fluent when they can apply their previously acquired knowledge and solve problems. Not only this, they will be able to give the reasoning behind it and explain the steps they have taken to get there. Children should then be able to recall and apply this knowledge over and over again to different situations quickly and accurately. It becomes second nature to them, it’s as if they can bring what they have previously learned to the forefront and apply it to the new problem.

The aim… Following this project, the majority of our teaching will be done through the problem solving approach. We will be providing the children with a ‘number a week’ method which will work throughout the year. Term 1 Term 2 Term 3 September – December January - April April - July Numbers from 0-10 will be covered during this term. The numbers from 0-10 will be explored in further detail. In terms of consolidation and putting a greater emphasis on number operations. Numbers to 20 will also be covered. Numbers from 0 – 20 will continue to be explored here. With a greater emphasis here on number bonds. You may have heard your child talking about one of something the last week or so, they have been encouraged to find and explore the number 1. There are 7 big ideas in EYFS mathematics = pattern, counting and comparison, number operation, measurement, geometry, sets and number composition – these 7 core areas all stem from problem solving.

Humpty Dumpty fell off a wall! Humpty Dumpty had a great fall! As a fascinator last week, we captured our children’s attention when they came into the classroom by setting up a Humpty Dumpty crime scene! This was one of many ideas we had in relation to starting our number of the week… Number 1. We used one egg falling from a wall as a starting point which started a lot conversation, children came up with a variety of ideas as to how Humpty fell off the wall and they spent the rest of the day finding us one of nearly everything! Humpty Dumpty had a great fall!

Mrs. Fegan’s pics

Our Pedagogy… Some of you with older children in school will already be aware of the ‘Maths – no problem!’ scheme of work which we follow. So, implementing this fluency project in the EYFS will allow our children to transition through to Year 1 smoothly, as they are already familiar with methods used to help them solve number problems. It allows our children to become: Efficient; as the children won’t learn methods with too many steps in relation to solving problems. Accurate; children will be able to draw upon their prior knowledge quickly and accurately to solve problems, relating to number facts and other number relationships. Flexible; children need to be flexible in order to choose the appropriate strategy for the numbers involved, but to also use another method to check the answer they got. So, why do we do it?

How it’s seen in our classroom… We have the number 1 throughout our continuous provision and in the majority of areas within our classroom so children are constantly seeing and hearing the number. E.g. when we start lining up we talk about who is first in the line, who will be first to tidy up and how many things we can do in 1 minute using a 1 minute timer. We were really lucky that the first day of this month fell on the first day of our school week.

Outdoors… Representing the number 1 using conkers and other autumn treasure. Talking about circles and their properties, having one continuous line. The children really enjoyed finding them in our outdoor area. We enjoyed using the number one when we used our water shed too! We filled one bucket full of water, having one go at a time.

And beyond… These are just a few pictures to help us see and recognise that we are surrounded by number and we can all encourage number recognition with our children. Children learn best when they can experience the real thing, when numbers are brought to life and have meaning or they’re relevant to the child. A few examples here are door numbers, baby borther/sister birthday cards. Balloons and cards in the shops, 1 O’Clock, paying for things in the shop with £1 or 1p.

Comments… Last year the Reception Team collectively moved towards the mastery approach, the team dipped into maths fluency during their maths sessions. It saw children exploring the different ways in which numbers can be seen and represented in the world around the child. Our Year 1 teacher said: “We have noticed that introducing the children to maths fluency last year has made a huge difference when the children joined us in Year 1. In particular, their understanding of number and especially using the number resources”. We (teachers and TA’s) have attended the maths fluency course and we can’t wait to explore more numbers with your children. It’s been really fun so far – I appreciate this has been a whistle stop tour but please don’t hesitate to ask any questions!

Watch this space!