Sam (3 years, 6 months) was watching as Bradley

played with a calculator and wrote numbers as he

did so. Sam decided to copy what Bradley was

doing, and made his own marks, thereby connecting

in his mind his new understanding of the calculator,

numerals and his graphical marks.

The maths: Using own early marks while playing

with the buttons on a calculator.

The Taxonomy: Early explorations with marks

while playing with a calculator

Stacey, (3 years, 2 months) was playing

pretend 'Take Away' cafe. Picking up a

notebook she asked her friend "What do you

like?" and her friend replied "Chicken Tikka

please". Stacey then asked, "Chicken and

chips?" and filled the page of her notebook

with the marks shown here. Finally, she

asked her friend for "Fifty pound please"

and her friend pretended to give her some

money.

The maths: Using own early marks

The Taxonomy: Early explorations with

marks in the context of taking orders, and

requesting payment

Isaac, (4 years, 5 months) and David were

exploring some bathroom scales. As David

stood on the scales to find his weight, Isaac

drew on his understanding of units of

measurement (weight and length) to refer 

to David's weight, commenting, "David weighs

700 kilos, he's 60 metres heavy".

The maths: Using own early marks