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Researching children’s
meaning-making in play and the beginnings of early ‘written’
mathematics.
I’ve just returned from a fortnight in
the Netherlands and much enjoyed my visits to the two Dutch schools
involved in my research. The official age for starting school in the
Netherlands is five years but in reality, most children start in
‘Group 0’ at 3 years of age (the equivalent of our final year of
nursery in England). Since 1985 Group 0 children have been
integrated into schools, usually in designated rooms in the same
building.
The two schools involved in this
research use a curriculum called ‘Developmental Education’
which is influenced by Vygotsky’s work. Learning is play-based until
the children move into the equivalent of the English Year 2 (with no
formal teaching of reading, writing, spelling, phonics, handwriting
or mathematics). The curriculum is topic based: Group 0 in one of
the schools was focusing on Eric Carle’s story of ‘The Hungry
Caterpillar’ and the other school had a whole-school project on
‘Water’. When they move into Group 3 (like our Year 2) the
curriculum and the children’s experiences become more formal and
reading, writing and mathematics are taught. It’s interesting that
in both countries there is a significant emphasis on play for the
younger children – but there are also some differences in the
interpretation of ‘play’. More about this next month…
(Maulfry)
The Williams Review - Interim
Report:
The interim report explores four aspects
relating to Early Years mathematics: Background research into
early years; Teachers and practitioners in Early Years settings;
Problem solving, reasoning and numeracy in early years and The
transition from EYFS to Key Stage 1. The report includes several
items relating to early written mathematics, including children’s
mathematical mark-making (see links above). If you have not yet
responded to the next phase of the consultation, we hope that you
will make the most of this opportunity (the Consultation ends April
30th 2008).
The following items have been added to
the website this month:
Resources
Recent reports new on the website:
New!
Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum: Latest reports,
Feb 29th 2008
New!
The Williams Maths Review (Early Years and Primary):
Interim Report (DCSF, March 2008)
New!
Williams Maths Review:
findings relating to early written mathematics
New!
To contribute your comments to the final phase of the
Consultation process
New Links:
Early
Years Forum
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March 2008
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