Number Agents

Well I am sitting here amongst 23 learning journals trying to write reports.  With my annual reporting and strategic planning up on my computer screen that I am now officially half way through, as well as planning for 2018 and thinking about our upcoming planning day and Empty Classroom day. However invading my mind over the last few days has been this blog post, rather than continue to push it to the side, I have decided to just get it out. Writing, wow, there has been some real learning in this area for me this year.  Which in fact I didn't even realise until last week.  My complete perception of what a child that is ready to write has changed, in fact my thinking has done a complete flip. I used to love it when children came in already able to write some words, letters and perhaps even put a basic "I went to..." story together.  In fact I would breathe a sigh of relief because I was confident that I could get those children to where I wanted them by the end ...

Before this year, I had dabbled with the use of maths eyes and always used a lot of subitizing activities within my sessions.  I also used a lot of ten frame work and lots of similar patterns for ten shown in different way.  I also have a few numicon resources that I use from time to time. Dice and cards have also always been a big part of my programme, and continue to be so. This year I have really got stuck into number talks.  In particular dot talks and using a range of other visual images. Dot talks have proved to be amazing and I am really impressed with how this approach has really assisted children to develop flexibility with number.  In particular it has really helped them with the concept that there is not only one way to see or do things and often not one 'right' answer. A concept I have really been hammering lately is that a number can be expressed in different ways but mean the same thing e.g. 11 + 1 is the same as saying 6 + 6 etc. I think dot ...

My journey into play based learning and my resulting learning (ongoing of course) about brain development has led me to this question.  In all our wisdom and push to provide for modern learners, have we forgotten that children are still just children? We seem to be so desperate to jump on the next bandwagon, to shape our classrooms for the future, to teach these supposedly 'different' learners, who are so 'different' to how we were, in progressive ways. There are businesses shaped around providing professional development and resources so we can provide for these supposed different learners....but what is it that has made them so different? My thinking has now meandered to this point....children are no different to how we were....they are still just children....with the same developmental needs...the environment around them has shaped them in different ways, which leads them to engage or seek activities that are different to those we sought out, but is this ne...

Something that interests me is our obsession in education on assessing children, assessing them for their progress, but also assessing them for their knowledge gaps.  Then filling these gaps with focused teaching of the knowledge we believe will fill this gap. Very rarely do we look beyond the knowledge that may be needed to fill this gap and think about why the child is having difficulty making our perceived 'expected' level of progress in the first place. I have been just as guilty of this and used to cycle Number Agents through a two week cycle of knowledge focus so that I was 'covering' what I thought I needed to. In writing I would focus in on that specific thing the child was not doing to try and ensure that on their next sample they showed me they could indeed do it. And so it went on, I was constantly filling up gaps in the knowledge that in doing so I could 'accelerate' their progress to a level that would prove I had 'taught' them ...

Ingredients of my play-based room I have updated the mindmap and here is the PDF I have also updated my Term 4 planner and that is here in PDF The other link people have found useful is my goal sheet that is based on the sequential development of the brain... current copy is here. This is also our dispositions/habits sheet that I have developed and we will be using to drive our thinking and reflection around children's learning and growth. I hope these are useful.

First I want to preface this post with a disclaimer...I am not claiming that this is the only way to run a play-based room, I am not claiming to be an expert, I am simply sharing my experience so far.  Have I got everything right?  No probably not.   Am I still learning and developing my own pedagogy and understanding?  Yes absolutely! Our days are never the same, but they do follow the same basic flow.  The one thing that is important to us, is the freedom to just go with the children's passions or interest if the urge so takes us :) 9.00 - 9.10am - We start the day with play.  The bell means to come inside, but not to stop playing.  As children are playing we wander round, greet them and do the roll. 9.10 ish - Our morning song will play from Wai Ako, this is the signal that children are to come to the mat, we generally sing two or three songs together.  Here we will do a what's on top, if we are looking at growth mindset, we may do ...