Measure
Exploring measure comes naturally to young children. Bigger, longer, smaller, shorter are comparisons that explore through play all the time.
Children in Pine class decided to see how many pieces of paper long a grown up would be. This was completely self initiated and drew in other children to the exploration. They returned to their self chosen enquiry over a number of days adding more pieces of paper as necessary and then adding the heights of other children. This then led to a discussion about measure and how this could be recorded in other ways (cm and m).
The children then decided to write the names of the children they had measured adding another skill of learning.
Measure
Providing carefully chosen enhancements to Continuous Provision creates opportunities for children to apply skills into real life purposeful situations.
Making wind socks (linked to our Geography topic) involved cutting ribbon carefully into suitable lengths to attach. The ribbon needed to be folded in half to fit through the wholes - a concept not yet explored as a part of the teaching sequence but able to be pre-taught discreetly.
Some children took the initiative to mark each piece of ribbon at the same place to ensure that they were the same length. This demonstrates that they already have god understanding of measure and accuracy.
Linked to this we made a rain catcher and increments of 1cm were marked on the bottle. We will review, revisit and record this throughout the course of the term.
Carefully marking and measuring to make sure they are the same length.
1/5
Our rain catcher marked in CMs
3/5
Number
The enormous pumpkins grown in the Orchard were too good an opportunity to miss! After reading the story How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? we began to explore whether bigger pumpkins have more seeds. The story introduces counting in multiples which we haven't introduced yet but works as a great pre teach and starts the thought process off. Pumpkins were scooped - messy but fun! The seeds were dried and left out in Continuous Provision as an enhancement. Numicon pieces were added to support the link with maths. Children dipped in and out of this area, some worked together and others alone. Some children were ready to count up to 5 others happy to explore into the hundreds! We recorded our findings and discovered that the biggest pumpkins don't always have the most seeds inside!
Shape and Measure
James had watched someone on the television make a spiral pattern so decided to have a go with a piece of string. He estimated the amount he would need to cover the circle he had drawn. He was quite close but could see he would need more so accurately cut the correct amount. He added a gem to the centre and we both agreed it looked a bit like a Jammy Dodger!