Playful Mathematics for Children 3 to 7 by Helen J. Williams | Corwin| Paperback: £15.24 | eBook: £15.29
Built around the idea that children are naturally mathematical in their play, Playful Mathematics for Children aims to inspire us to rethink mathematics, explore how children learn best and how adults can effectively support their mathematical learning.
Williams believes the way maths is taught in the early years is imperative in instilling a positive relationship with the subject, and suggests looking for the maths within a child’s chosen play, alongside organising a specific maths-based activity.
I particularly like the quotes that accompany each chapter. For example, ‘Carer to child, after her first day at school: Did you enjoy it? What did you do today? Child: Well, I spent a long time sorting out Mrs B’s animals, but when I finished, she tipped them all back in the box.’
This kind of activity, sorting for sorting’s sake, is stated as holding no real context, which children view as just a task with no value, and I can definitely remember feeling this way as a young child myself.
This book offers lots of practical suggestions for lesson ideas that can be used to cover early learning goals, and also the prompts to get you thinking about maths as a subject contained in every other subject within the curriculum – the clever bit is bringing it to the foreground.
I Can’t Do Maths! by Professor Alf Coles and Professor Nathalie Sinclair | Bloomsbury | Paperback: £14.99 | eBook: £13.49
Admittedly, teachers these days generally present the subject with a bit more flare than they did when I was school, but even so, maths does seem to remain the subject that everyone imagines they either get – or don’t get.
In I Can’t Do Maths! Why children say it and how to make a difference, Professors Coles and Sinclair aim to bust this myth by exploring and providing practical strategies for five common sticking points surrounding the teaching of maths. By not only looking at these individual areas, but also changing the whole landscape surrounding the subject – the language used, maths as a tool for solving real-life problems, and presenting maths as a group participation subject, etc. – it’s possible, according to the authors, to offer the subject afresh and improve enjoyment and learning outcomes for everyone.
The overriding theme is that by seeing the subject of maths through new eyes, we can present it in a way that is both engaging and relevant.
Packed full of activities, techniques, concrete strategies and real–life case studies, the insights here are easy to digest and transfer to the classroom. The book made me question not only the way we teach the subject but the way we consider maths throughout our lives.
Home Learning Environments for Young Children by Cathy Nutbrown, Peter Clough, Kay Davies and Peter Hannon | Sage Publishing | Paperback: £27.99 | eBook: £24.99
This book takes an in-depth look at this important role by focusing on partnerships between professionals and parents and identifying ways this connection can be utilised to enhance family learning for early years children.
Using a broad approach to home learning, the authors look at strategies for enhancing family involvement through a range of real-life scenarios, such as: family literacy for imprisoned parents, multilingualism in community settings, and foster carers. The wealth of collective knowledge shared here – all authors are experts in their field – is well displayed, and rather than producing a dry analogy of information on the subject of home learning, they have produced a practical handbook highlighting many of the educational obstacles becoming part of the uneven playing field many children go on to navigate throughout their lives.
I found the chapter looking at professional development particularly interesting, asking us to recognise the difference between ‘professional development’ and ‘training’ – and the real-life case studies are both relatable and easy to link to working practice.
50 fantastic ideas to encourage diversity and inclusion by June O’Sullivan and Nausheen Khan | Featherstone| Paperback: £12.99 | eBook: £11.69
Covering important topics such as gender, race, ethnicity, age and mental health, this book is designed to help practitioners build the confidence required to create an inclusive environment.
Each of the 50 activities are really clear, simple and easy to dip into, and there are some lovely ideas here which do look a lot of fun, with all activities being accompanied by photographs of children taking part.
Following the author’s belief that children can be active agents for change, all the activities encourage children to ask questions, challenge prejudice and celebrate diversity through learning experiences.
The last activity in the book, ‘Build a social inclusion network’, offers guidelines for building a community of practitioners to both share ideas and information, and provide support; extending the theme of inclusion into the adult workplace.
Karen Hart is an education writer based in London