How do we do….. Maths?

We all know that the teaching of maths has changed a lot since we were children.  However, the basics will always be the same – make it, draw it, write it.

In Holkham we do a lot of practical maths.  We follow the White Rose scheme, and through that we progress through the concrete, pictoral and abstract teaching.  Concrete means that we use manipulatives (which the children call ‘stuff’!).  This can be counters, Diennes material, playing cards, and other objects that we can use for counting, working out answers, or representing our maths thoughts on the table in front of us.  Sometimes we take pictures and stick them into books, sometimes we are too busy enjoying what we are doing and learning!

Pictoral means that we move onto drawing our ideas, using jottings, circles in books, and any representation that helps us to think about our maths, to be able to explain what we are thinking to someone else, and to help us to understand how we got to the answer.

Abstract is the writing of the equations into our books. The children are able to do this with a fuller understanding of what they are doing, and they can combine their previous use of concrete and pictoral maths with this.

So how do we do maths? We make it, draw it, write it!