Sharon Martin Student Number 1602214 This essay will evaluate how current initiatives can support the development of numeracy across the curriculum. The essay will focus on Reception school age 4-5 and will cover the key areas in the framework such as; being able to count to 10, number bonds to 10, and using the pretend corner to bring numeracy into play which should hopefully build confidence in mathematics in a safe environment. My current setting has two Reception classes of 25 children in each class, both classes have the same topics and have some joint ventures such as Carol Concerts. The catchment area is quite varied so we have children from both privileged and deprived backgrounds, the school has a very clear ethos and most children attending the school seem to be engaged and get a lot out of being in school not only from an educational perspective but also a social one. ‘ Williams,H. 2006 pg 41’ supports the strategy of learning through pretend play and her book ‘ Lets Pretend Maths’ supports the idea of using the pretend corner as a way of introducing concepts such as money, and time. In my setting we are currently working with the Reception class and have ‘Weddings’ as a topic, the children will pick the ‘Wedding Party’ whilst doing this they should learn about money and categorising data. This essay will also include common errors made by children when learning the concept of ‘one more one less’, ‘Hansen,A 2014 pg 37’ states that a common problem children experience while trying to learn the concept of ‘one more one less’ is instead of adding one more to 15 to make 16 they will add a 1 to the end of 15 to make 151 however, she did not provide any possible answer to the problem. In my setting I have experienced that children may be quite confident in making number bonds from 1-10 but they cannot transfer the skills they have learnt when asked the same question but couched in a different manner. This essay will also look at teaching methods, and if the teacher varies the way the question is poised will this have a positive effect on how the child views mathematics. The essay will also glance at the ‘Cockroft Report 1982 para 250 & 322’ whilst giving an opposing view from ‘Burton,L 1995 pg 9’ who states that some of his findings do not correlate with classrooms today. First we are going to evaluate the Numeracy framework for Reception age, the ‘Welsh Government Learning Wales website’ states that the framework is made up of four main strands. The first strand is Developing Numerical Reasoning which is made up of three different elements, the first element is being able to identify correct processes and connections which means they are able to transfer mathematical skills to arears such as; play and other activities in the classroom. They should also be able to identify the different steps needed to complete a certain task or to reach a conclusion, whilst having the ability to select the correct mathematic technique to use in any given task. The child should also be able to not only select appropriate equipment but they should be able to use their knowledge to make informed estimations. ‘Welsh Government Learning Together website’ state that the next element is Represent and Communicate and children should be able to use ordinary and mathematical language to expostulate on their own ideas and choices, also they should be able to verbally present work along-side work in pictures and written forms, they should also use a variety of approaches to represent collated data. The website goes onto state that children should be able to devise and refine informal, personal methods of recording using words and symbols in number sentences. The next element is review and the child should be able to check strategies to decide if their answers are correct, whilst being able to interpret answers within the context of the problem and decide if the answers are appropriate. Finally they should be able to interpret information on charts and diagrams and draw relevant conclusions. The next part is Using Number Skills the first element of this part is ‘use number facts and relationships’ and children should be able to count up to 10, read and write up to 10, compare and order numbers up to 10. The next element is calculate using mental and written methods and the child should be able to combine two groups of objects to find ‘how many altogether’, they should also be able to take away objects to find how many remain. The next element is manage money and the child should be able to recognise and use 1p, 2p, 5p, and 10p coins to pay for items. The next element is Using Measuring Skills and children should be able to use direct comparisons with length, height, and distance eg; shorter/longer than, weight/mass , holds more/less than. The child should also be able to use the concept of time in their daily activities, demonstrating a developing sense of how long tasks task example; it takes 20 minutes for me to eat my breakfast. The next element is temperature and children should be able to gauge whether something is hot or cold, describing the effects of both. The final part is data skills and the child should be able to sort and classify objects using one criterion, record collections using marks, numbers or pictures. These objectives should be met by most children by the end of the school year. In November 2014 Estyn compiled a report into cross-curricular approach to Numeracy, they conducted a base-line review when the National Literacy and Numeracy Framework was introduced so they could measure any improvement or decline in a school’s cross-curricular approach to Numeracy. They found that the majority of children understood the basic principles of times tables, the four rules of number, place value and fractions. However, there is still a large portion of children that struggle with division and percentages which is largely due to a lack of confidence, this may hinder their ability to interpret results and solve problems. ‘Estyn 2014 pg 3’ also found that teachers need to improve their understanding of the subject, it stated , “ The quality of teaching to develop numeracy is good in just over half of the lessons observed. This is an improvement on the baseline study. In the lessons where teaching is less successful, this is often because teachers lack the mathematical subject knowledge to address pupils’ misconceptions. In primary and secondary schools where teachers lack the relevant knowledge, pupils make limited progress and in a few cases they become more confused.” They recommended that schools should work closely with cluster schools to develop greater consistency in teaching and assessing pupil’s numeracy skills, and they should also support schools to train staff so they have the knowledge and confidence to support and accurately marks students work. ‘Williams 2007 pg28’ states that role-playing can be an effective tool when applying a cross-curricular approach to Numeracy, she gives an example of setting up a pretend Café – the children would establish the amount of customers and from that set out the corresponding amount of cutlery and take the orders which should mean they are learning to sort, organise, and categorise data. ‘Williams 2007 pg 28’ goes onto say that the children should also serve the correct number of meals and drinks which will aid reliable counting and comparing qualities. The children will then take the money and count out the correct change which should help them understand money. This exercise should be beneficial as it would cover most of the elements of the National Literacy and Numeracy Framework. It also teaches children life-skills which are vital in later years. ‘Williams 2007 pg 42-43’ states that numeracy can be used in story-books, when the child is reading ask questions such as; ‘How many red balls can you see’, or ‘how many ice-creams will they need to buy?’. This should help them develop numerical reasoning which feeling pressure that some children can feel when problem solving in a mathematical setting. ‘Williams 2007 pg 79’ states; “ Young children are powerful thinkers and problem solvers, when they play, and mathematics can provide a strong context for developing positive learning dispositions. We can try to harness these by exploring the mathematical possibilities of what could be termed loosely ‘playing without toys’ and, instead, making things up and using imagination which is so relevant to mathematics.” ‘ Harries,T, and Spooner, M. 2000 pg 49’ states that young children tend to experience acoustic images before visual ones, they hear sounds and the rhythm of the sounds become meaningful. This can be developed by using nursery rhymes which should help children in sorting the sounds into the correct order which would come under ‘Numerical Reasoning’ in the Numeracy Framework. They go on to mention the use of a number line in teaching children how to count from 1 -10 which is also in the framework under the strand of using number skills, that skill could then be used to start developing number bonds and the one more one less strategy. ‘Harries, T, and Spooner, M 2000 pg 51’ goes onto mention the use of nursery rhymes to develop the concepts of addition and subtraction, they suggest the use of rhymes such as; “Nine blue skittle in a row Knock them over as you go Nine, eight, seven …… (Try varying the number and colour) Which should come under the strand using number skills and the element calculate using written and mental methods as the child is learning to count back from 9 to 1. (or whatever number you choose) You could also vary the method to counting forward from 1-10 which would also cover the using number skills strand but would cover the use number facts and relationships element. ‘Harries,T, and Spooner, M. 2000 pg 37 advocate collaborative working where a less gifted student is paired with a more abled student to undertake a mathematical task, they state that the results suggest an increase in sharing ideas and talking about the subject which can lead to them explaining to the class how they worked it out which links in with the developing numerical reasoning strand of the framework and would cover the represent and communicate element. They go onto mention the use of answering devices such as mini-whiteboards, and number petals these can be used to aid children count to 10 and also should help them understand number bonds, which comes under the using number skills strand and the use number facts and relationships element- they also state that teachers need to give children more time to answer questions which could help them gain confidence in mental mathematics this is another element in the using number skills strand. ‘Cockroft Report 1982 para 250 &322’ stated that; “ The ability to solve problems is at the heart of mathematics. The idea of investigation is fundamental both to the study of mathematics itself and also to an understanding of the ways in which mathematics can be used to extend knowledge and to solve problems in very many fields. Mathematical exploration and investigations are of value even when they are not directed specifically to the learning of new concepts.” ‘Burton,L 1995 pg 9’ states that the above statement does not correlate with the subject being taught in classrooms, she goes onto mention a child in a remedial mathematics class and when the child was asked to take 70 from 109 he could not answer. However, if the teacher had couched the question in a monetary fashion - such as what is £109-£70 he would have been able to answer as he spent his weekends helping his parents in their shop and was adept at metal arithmetic. If the Numeracy Framework was available at the time this child would probably have flourished in his mathematics class. ‘Burton,L 1995 pg 10’ goes onto mention that teachers should be given the opportunity to observe the class while they are conducting problem solving challenges as this could give them an insight into what they can and cannot do, ultimately it should teach children to ask questions and probe into the problem which should cover the developing numerical reasoning strand and the identify processes and connections element. ‘ Williams,H 2006 pg 41’ advocates the use of storybooks to teach children numeracy, she states that any book can be used to teach children mathematics and problem-solving. The author explains that you can look for opportunities in a storybook to introduce the concepts of money or time which covers the using money and using measuring skills strands of the framework, she goes onto to say that you can go on to introduce giving directions and using measuring equipment into the story giving the children the opportunity to collate the data from the exercise which would come under the using data skills strand of the framework. In my setting one of the current themes is ‘Weddings’, the children are tasked with compiling a ‘Wedding present list’, this entails them looking through magazines for suitable presents cutting the pictures out, sticking them on a piece of card and pricing them up. The more gifted children have to total the presents to 10p and the rest of the class have a total of 5p. The children need to choose three items and price them so combined they meet their given total. They are also tasked with compiling a guest list and they have to pick the ‘Wedding party’. This project should help with their data gathering skills, also their number skills should improve and hopefully will end with them hitting the target set in the framework. This task should also teach the children money skills, how to recognise the different coins and how to budget. ‘Hansen.A 2014 pg 37’ remarks that when a child is learning the concept of ‘one more one less’ they can sometimes make errors such as; when asked to make one more than 15 they may say 151 which is just adding 1 to the end of 15, also when asked for one less than 21 they may say the answer is 2, when all they have done is take the number 1 digit away instead of subtracting 1 from 21. She states this can happen when the child thinks of the digits separately instead of the number as a whole, this may also mean the child does not understand the concept of ‘one more one less’. ‘Hansen,A 2014 pg 37 does not provide a solution to this problem. ‘Hughes,M et al 2000 pg 26-27 remarks on a study conducted by ‘Askew et al 1993’ they quizzed 744 teachers whose pupils ranged from reception to year 9. They followed up the questionnaire by interviewing 32 of the 744 teachers, they remarked that the methods resulted in evidence concerning teachers planning and teaching practices. They found that the way teachers applied mathematics came under two main categories ‘Practical’ and ‘Relevant’. They stated that the ‘Practical’ element is when teachers introduce a physical element into the class such as sorting pebbles in to sizes from smallest to largest which would come under the strand of using measuring skills in the framework. ‘Relevant’ is described as being useful and could mean using a make believe shop to introduce the concept of money which would cover the using number skills strand of the framework. In my setting we have a pretend corner were the children can use their imaginations to become shop-keepers, or waitresses in a café which should help them in their numeracy skills as they will be taking orders, using money, and possibly recording data. In conclusion in this essay we have explored the Numeracy Framework for Reception School age and have found that it has 4 main strands, the first strand is Developing Numerical Reasoning and focuses on teaching children how to transfer mathematical skills into other areas such as pretend play. The next strand is using number skills and children should be able to count to 10, read and write numbers to 10 and compare and sort number up to 10. We then focused on using measuring skills and children should be able to use direct comparisons such as ‘this is hot/cold’ they should also be able to move when given certain directions, the final strand is using data and children should be able to sort objects and record them using symbols or pictures. The essay then focused on a report by Estyn in 2014 that studied a cross-curricular approach that conducted a base line review when the Numeracy Framework was introduced so they could measure any decline or improvement they found that children understood the basic principles but they struggled with division and percentages which they put down to a lack of confidence. ‘Estyn 2014 pg 3’ also found that teachers needed extra training when it came to numeracy, they also recommended schools working together to ensure consistency. The essay then looked at the positive effect play can have when introducing numeracy into other arears such as the pretend corner, ‘Williams 2007 pg 42-43’ states that you can bring numeracy into story-time by asking questions such as; ‘how many red balls can you see?’ for example. We then examined how nursery rhymes could aid in numeracy skills ‘ Harries,T, and Spooner, M. 2000 pg 49’ state that children first learn through sound and the rhythm of the sounds become a pattern such as a nursery rhyme. They are also advocates of collaborative working where a more gifted student is paired with a less gifted student they state this can lead to sharing ideas and the less gifted student gaining confidence. They also extol the virtues of using answering aids such as white boards, number petals could also be used to help children count to 10. We glanced over the Cockroft Report and how ‘Burton,L 1995 pg 9’ stated that its findings are not relevant in today’s classrooms, she goes onto state that if a child is struggling in mathematics try changing the way the question is worded instead of asking what is 107-70 try what is £107-£70. ‘Burton,L 1995 pg 9’ then mentions teachers should get the opportunity to observe the class to gain and insight into how they learn. The essay then focused on the topic currently being taught in my setting. The children are tasked with picking the Wedding Party, making a gift list with three gifts that total either 5p or 10p which should help them gain confidence in numeracy skills. The essay then looked at common errors in mathematics ‘Hansen.A 2014 pg 37’ stated that children can make errors such as when asked to add one more to 15 they will add a digit and come up with 151 as an answer, ‘Hansen.A 2014’ did not give a possible solution to these errors.