Peek Into Learning: Math in Early Years 

This week we are peeking into how students in Early Years learn mathematical skills and concepts. Students begin learning from Pre k. Mathematical learning can be taught through play and through explicit teaching of concepts or skills.  Students use a range of experiences, tools and manipulatives in math to help develop their skills and concepts while applying their mathematical understanding. Teachers look for opportunities to teach math through students play, counting objects, naming shapes, making patterns, sorting objects, adding groups of objects together and comparing sizes. Students are exposed to numbers in the environment and look for real life application. As students move up through the grade levels their learning becomes more explicit but they continue to use different manipulatives and apply their understanding to real world experiences. 

Their recognition of number increases, they begin to develop an understanding of place value. Addition and subtraction begins from the early development of putting groups of objects together and taking them away, knowing what is 1 more and 1 less than a given number, and recognizing the symbols used for number sentences, before students begin to explore adding and subtracting larger numbers larger numbers.  The concept of shape is developed through recognizing shapes in the environment, naming shapes, manipulating shapes and exploring the features shapes, in order for students to develop their ability to describe shape properties. Measurement is applied to real life experiences, comparing, and using non standard measurements. Sorting objects through play is the beginning development of data handling. Students eventually explore different ways to record their data and analyse their data. Below you will see some examples of mathematical learning in our Prek-Gr1 classes.