Research School Network: Crunching Numbers, Expanding Talk Three strategies to promote high quality talk in Maths

Developing oracy skills in the maths classroom is vital for embedding understanding, confidence, and independence in children’s learning. At St Mary’s, we’ve implemented several key approaches to promote high-quality talk, ensuring all children can engage in meaningful discussions about mathematical concepts. Here, we’ll explore how storytelling, talk tokens, and sentence stems have transformed our teaching and supported our pupils’ progress.

Storytelling offers a creative and engaging way to introduce new mathematical ideas and concepts to children. They can captivate children’s attention, provide relatable contexts, and help to solidify abstract concepts by connecting them to real-life scenarios in an engaging way.

​“A Squash and a Squeeze” by Julia DonaldsonIn one lesson, we used ​“A Squash and a Squeeze” to explore the concepts of ​“one more” and ​“one less”. As we read the story, we asked questions and used prompts such as, ​“How many now?” ​“First there were ___, and now there are ___.” ​“Are there more or fewer in the house?” The children quickly grasped the concept of adding one more through the repetition of the story and the relatable visuals of the illustrations. By representing, the characters with small figures this brought the story to life for the children and allowed them to physically move the characters.

This understanding extended into their play. For example, during small-world activities, children recreated the story’s scenarios, counting and recounting as they added or removed characters. In the home corner, one child applied their learning, saying, ​“There are 6 children in here. If we have 1 more, that’s 7, and that would be a squash and a squeeze!” Not only did they demonstrate understanding of ​“one more,” but they also began exploring spatial reasoning and capacity as they recognised how crowded the space had become.

By embedding mathematical ideas through stories, children actively engage in learning. The repetition of key phrases helps build independence, as children can transfer this understanding into other areas of provision and their everyday play. This approach has also boosted communication and language skills by providing a structured framework for talk, which they then apply confidently with their peers.

Talk tokens are a simple yet highly effective tool to ensure all children have the opportunity to contribute during group discussions. This approach was inspired by training from the West Yorkshire Maths Hub, focusing on oracy in the maths classroom.

How It Works

Each child in a group is allocated the same number of talk tokens. They ​“spend” a token to share their thoughts or contribute to a discussion. This system ensures that all children have an equal opportunity to speak, promoting active participation.

Impact on Learning

Talk tokens have been particularly effective in developing reasoning skills. As children share ideas, justify their reasoning, and listen to others, they deepen their understanding of mathematical concepts. The activity also fosters active listening; when not speaking, children must pay attention to others’ contributions to continue the discussion.

Over time, we’ve noticed a marked increase in confidence and participation. Even initially hesitant children are now engaging in mathematical talk, demonstrating their ability to explain and prove their ideas in a safe, nurturing environment. This collaborative approach has created a culture where every voice is valued; further supporting pupil motivation and independence.

Sentence stems provide children with a clear framework for expressing their ideas. This approach has been one of the most impactful of our school’s teaching, supporting all learners, particularly those with SEND and EAL needs.

In KS1, as part of our NCETM Mastering Number session we introduced the sentence stem: ​“___ is made of ___ and ___.” During a lesson, when asked, ​“What do we know about the number 5?” children responded with impressive examples, such as, ​“5 is made of 1 and 4, and it can also be made from 4 and 1.” This demonstrated their understanding of number composition and the commutative property of addition. ​“5 is an odd number because it can’t be shared equally into two groups.” From 5 and 6 year olds this is very impressive but not surprising as throughout the mastering number programme stem sentences are used to underpin the mathematical structure through talk. The children then can access the learning and apply this into their independent work.

Using stem sentences has transferred outside of the maths lesson as we have found them to be very beneficial in supporting children’s oracy skills. We find them to be accessible they provide a starting point for all children, ensuring no one feels left behind. They provide consistency through repeating the stem sentence helps embed mathematical vocabulary and concepts. Children are actively involved feel empowered to contribute, knowing exactly how to structure their responses.

By integrating sentence stems into daily lessons, we’ve seen significant improvements in children’s ability to articulate their thinking, reinforcing their understanding of mathematical ideas and boosting their confidence to participate.

EEF_Maths_EY_KS1_Guidance_Report.pdf