Year One's Maths Party

Year One's Maths Party!

On Thursday, the children of Year 1 invited their parents and carers into class  for their Maths Party. It was great to see so many adults were able to make it and the children were thrilled to be able to show off all of their impressive maths skills.

Merging maths games into the children's play and learning environment can play to each child’s learning style as well as making the subject more engaging. Including fun activities in a fun maths mental workout can increase interaction between children and result in better learning in a fun and relaxed environment. This was clearly seen on the day, with the children taking their adults from the classroom, to the outside area, in the sandpit then the water tank! 

                              

Children and adults can find maths difficult because it is abstract. In Broadford, we are using the CPA approach (concrete, pictorial, abstract). The CPA approach helps children learn new ideas and build on their existing knowledge by introducing abstract concepts in a more familiar and tangible way.

Concrete

Concrete is the “doing” stage, using concrete objects to model problems. Instead of the traditional method of maths teaching, where a teacher demonstrates how to solve a problem, the CPA approach brings concepts to life by allowing children to experience and handle physical objects themselves. Every new abstract concept is learned first with a “concrete” or physical experience.

For example, if a problem is about adding up four baskets of fruit , the children might first handle actual fruit before progressing to handling counters or cubes which are used to represent the fruit.

Pictorial

Pictorial is the “seeing” stage, using representations of the objects to model problems. This stage encourages children to make a mental connection between the physical object and abstract levels of understanding by drawing or looking at pictures, circles, diagrams or models which represent the objects in the problem.

Building or drawing a model makes it easier for children to grasp concepts they traditionally find more difficult, such as fractions, as it helps them visualise the problem and make it more accessible.

Abstract

Abstract is the “symbolic” stage, where children are able to use abstract symbols to model problems (Hauser).

Only once a child has demonstrated that they have a solid understanding of the “concrete” and “pictorial” representations of the problem, can the teacher introduce the more “abstract” concept, such as mathematical symbols. Children are introduced to the concept at a symbolic level, using only numbers, notation, and mathematical symbols, for example +, –, x, / to indicate addition, multiplication, or division.