This example was on Catherine’s first whole day at school in the Reception class. Catherine was quiet and reserved and initially hesitant about what she wanted to do during the children’s extended period of child-initiated play. As she talked quietly to her teacher, Catherine explained that her sister was 2˝ years on that day and decided to draw a picture of her.

After a while she brought her drawing to her teacher. She had written a ‘C’ in the top left-hand corner to represent her name and added a similar symbol that appeared to be a ‘c’ with a line beneath it (or perhaps a reversed numeral of ‘2’. I wondered if she would add something to signify ˝ and smiling, she wrote the ‘c’ symbol next. Was this her way of representing approximately a half of a numeral ‘2’?

The next day as soon as she arrived at school Catherine confidently went to the writing area and wrote some more symbols explaining ‘I’m 4˝ years old!’ She had written a numeral ‘4’ followed by her approximation of a half of a numeral 4.

These invented symbols were ingenious solutions that enabled Catherine to communicate specific mathematical meanings and show considerable insight for a young four year-old.

Written number and quantities

• Early written numerals (exploring fractions)

See:  taxonomy of development