Research School Network: Maximising Mathematical Moments Everyday routines can be used to develop early mathematical understanding.

Research evidence tells us that if children have a good early mathematical understanding, they are more likely to do better throughout school. (EEF, 2020)

Maths is everywhere, but for some children these mathematical concepts and ideas are not always obvious. Sometimes young children need peers or an adult to draw attention to the mathematical moments in their play and everyday routines.

We can look at some of the recommendations from the Guidance Report – Improving Mathematics in the Early Years and Key Stage 1 to support us to think about this further. 

Recommendation two: Dedicate time for children to learn mathematics and integrate mathematics throughout the day.

The guidance recommends us to consider the following:

• Make the most of moments throughout the day to highlight and use mathematics, for example, in daily routines, play activities, and other curriculum areas.

How can we ​‘mathematise’ our day?

We know that everyday routines such as registration time, snack time, and tidying up provide opportunities for counting and comparison as well as addition, subtraction, sharing, and time problems. Two Early Years leads from across NEAT Academy trust share examples of how they make the most of Reception daily routines as an opportunity to model and integrate mathematics. 

Carole-Ann Hetherington- EYFS Lead at Tyneview Primary School, shares how she integrates mathematics into her reception class daily routines. 

‘We use a five frame and double-sided counters to model how many days we have had at school so far in the week and how many we have left. We always find this really effective when getting the children to recall their number bonds to 5, as it becomes more meaningful for them and gives opportunities for repeated practice.’ 

‘During snack time we use comparative language when talking about how much fruit we have on offer e.g. ​‘Do you think there are more bananas or less apples?’

Helen Woods- Mitchell – EYFS Lead at West Walker Primary School, shares how she dedicates time for mathematical learning every day across different contexts and within other curriculum areas.

‘During self-registration in the morning, children add their name to ten frames on the board so we can see if we have a full class of 30 children. The children will count the blank spaces on the ten frames to see how many children are not in school today.’

‘At story time, children will vote for their favourite story out of a choice of two. As they vote I complete a tally chart on the board and we count up the number of votes, while using the language of ​‘more’ and ​‘less.’

These examples highlight the opportunities we have to integrate mathematics within daily routines and the different contexts in which children learn. We can maximise opportunities for children to encounter mathematical concepts, language and ideas.

As practitioners we should take advantage of such times to support mathematical development and maximise mathematical moments across the day to further support and extend mathematical understanding.

References

‘Improving mathematics in the early years and key stage 1’, Education Endowment Foundation, January 2020.
​‘Early years and key stage 1 mathematics teaching: evidence review’, Education Endowment Foundation, August 2020.
​‘Maximising Mathematical Moments’, The Education Endowment Foundation, 2023​‘The Early Years Evidence Store’, The Education Endowment Foundation, 2023