Maths PD #1 - Bruce Moody

Learning Intention: WALT solve problems like...(Keep it simple).

We are striving for number fluence. Just as we want children to read fluenctly, they need to know basic facts and place value fluently i.e. no hesitation or thinking time.

Trim back to what is absolutely essential for students to learn; more concentrated, valuable work.

Key Progressions:

Counting (the enemy of Maths!) - Maths stages are defunct. Stage 4 was never about counting on. It's bout Place Value. They already understand basic facts (Year 1). Counting on was the gatewy to enter Stage 4. Counting on is 1 more than 15 NOT 15+4=16, 17, 18, 19. Place Value is the ability to look at 25+4. Place Value allows you to get to 29 using 5+4=9 and the 20 goes before it. 38+50=8 thens + 8 ones - there is no need to do a calculation.

Maths should not be getting harder and harder. It's about the challenge.

Year 1 - don't spend lots of time getting kids to count again and again and again. Piaget said cognitive structures need to be in place. Critical is Piaget's idea of "one more". ("If you have three and I give you one more...") If a child can do that, they are ready to add.

Letters and reading - you need letters to read but youo need to understand they come in chunks. 5 is 5 not 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

If they're not ready, make them ready! Use DATs (deliberate acts of teaching).

Counting is replaced as soon as you can by adding and subtraction to less than 10, and to 10. Then start Place Value (the structure of our number system).

Place Value is not a addition strategy - it's known. 53+20 is 73. We know that because 5 tens + 2 tens is 7 thens then add 3.

Part Whole - teach it the way it works (not every possible way). Up to the end of Level 2, the curriculum doesn't care how many strategies you can use. We don't cover the core deep enough if you try and teach all the different ways.

Remember the questions are not precious - it's the Maths.

Choose your numbers deliberately and consciously. 25+4 is easier than 23+6 because 5+4 is easier than 3+6. It just is!

The Developing Brain - Nathan Wallis

What 2-7-year old’s need to know!

“The fundamental mistake we make is thinking that our 2-year-old is a little 7-year-old and that the earlier we get them ready to be 7, by teaching them numeracy and literacy, the better off they will be later on in life. That’s just not how your child’s brain develops.”– Nathan Wallis

Nathan spoke about the stages of brain development that occur through childhood and gave us an understanding of how your and our childrens brain work. A lot of it is normal development and not in fact our fault!

He then took an in-depth look at what your 2-7-year old really needs to know. There is no dispute in the research, you will produce a more intelligent child in a free-play, child-lead  environment, where parents and teachers are responsive to the child’s creativity.

“A lot of intelligence is problem-solving and problem-solving is hugely dependent on creativity. Creatively largely comes online, between the ages of 2-7, in a free-play environment.” – Nathan Wallis.

He gave an informative narrative on how our day-to-day interactions with children and young people, significantly the early years, plays a critical role in defining later outcomes for our children and for their future. 

Nathan said research shows that parents who stay home with their children for the first two years of their lives give them a much greater chance at future success. Your first born child will be the most successful out of all your children simply because you devoted more time to them than subsequent children.