Category: Numeracy

Within the curriculum area of numeracy we aim to enable our pupils to develop skills and knowledge to help them make sense of the world around them.  Numeracy is not only about exploring and mastering skills in counting and developing an understanding of number, but it involves developing a curiosity in the world around us, working out problems relevant and appropriate to the pupils’ age and stage.  We practice numeracy skills across all areas of the curriculum and our targets guide specific numeracy focus within functional contexts.  We aim to progress skills which will enable greater independence as our pupils move through the school toward qualification in the senior phase.  Numeracy is a core skill for life and work; our pupils practice and develop lifelong learning skills in community contexts and at home.

Learning about money in our classroom bakery

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In Room 6, we recently transformed our classroom into a busy bakery, providing a fantastic hands-on opportunity for our pupils to learn about money and the concepts of big and small items, particularly in the context of £1 and £2 coins. We brought the shop into our classroom instead of shopping in a real shop!

Our bakery project was designed to teach the children essential skills in a fun and engaging way. Each pupil received some play money, including £1 and £2 coins, to spend at our bakery. They could choose between big and small loaves of bread, pay at the till, and even wait for their change. This activity helped them practise counting, recognize different coin values, and understand basic transactions.

Moreover, this experience was multi-sensory. The kids used their senses to immerse themselves fully in the bakery environment. They enjoyed the fresh aroma of the baked goods, felt the different textures of the bread, and, of course, tasted the delicious results of their purchases. This sensory engagement made the learning process enjoyable and memorable.

The bakery project also introduced the concepts of big and small amounts of money and the corresponding bread sizes. The children learned that larger loaves cost more and smaller loaves cost less. This practical exercise helped them grasp these abstract concepts in a real-world context, understanding that bigger items often require more money and vice versa.

Overall, our classroom bakery was a resounding success. It was an excellent way for the kids to learn about money management while having fun. They gained confidence in handling money, making choices, and understanding the value of different amounts. Well done, Room 6! This experience has been educational and enriching for all involved.

Maths Week 2021

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Last week it was Maths Week across Scotland. We asked classes to share work that they had been doing in Maths and Numeracy. Thank you to our Primary colleagues for sharing some of the lovely learning they engaged in.

Room 3 shared some of the work they’re doing across the curriculum, linking maths to early literacy skills and daily routine: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1JTPDvjQdOriDlqpK9OhsCArSnjucNP8rArHW6wRXDxc/edit?usp=sharing

Room 4 are exploring colour through their interdisciplinary learning.

One of our pupils in Room 6 is working on number recognition and counting.

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

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Room 17 have been combining our work on reusing and recycling with our numeracy work looking at shapes.  We’ve reused lots of empty packaging to make big building blocks.  This has given us a great opportunity to explore 3D shapes. Some of us thought the best bit was knocking down our towers and some of us enjoyed the smells from the packaging. We also reused empty bottles and old newspapers to make a skittles game.  We had lots of fun playing skittles.

Big and Small in Room 17

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Room 17 have been busy exploring the idea of big and small. We have been applying this concept to our everyday life skills; for example, looking at big kitchen utensils and small kitchen utensils; cutting fruit into big pieces and small pieces. We have also had good fun exploring this with different sizes of balls and we have been practicing our turn taking skills at the same time. We have also been decorating our outside area with the idea of big and small too. We have been painting big rocks and small rocks to make a pretty class snake; and making wind chimes by choosing big twigs and small twigs! Our outside area is looking much more welcoming now! 

National Numeracy Day: 19th May 2021

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19th May is National Numeracy Day. There are events throughout the day on the National Numeracy website:

https://www.nationalnumeracy.org.uk/numeracyday

Numeracy is all around us. It helps us to understand the world and process our environment. Colours, patterns, shape, size and texture are all related to numeracy and play can support our early understanding of these concepts. As our pupils develop, we focus on functional numeracy, learning about time through our daily routine, money in practical situations such as knowing we have to pay in the shop, measurement in HE and outdoor learning. Numeracy skills are developed across the curriculum.

There are lots of things you can do at home to support your child’s numeracy development. Why not some of these activities? For Primary / early Secondary learner here are some ideas. Follow the link below for more:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EIwt0gKHQ-0tJ7N1p1J9XeYrV3OBIUOx0KXplmkf5zQ/edit?usp=sharing

For our Senior Phase learners:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSl3vrEw2_6rLo8diWVck-jzCk2OMK5RZ81ZAe6isXMGMf1dWo2qD-xW6I0En-8f9Tq6ReYeie3tIdI/pub

We’d love to see how you use numeracy at home. Please share any photographs or comments by e-mail to: gw19russellclare@ab-ed.org

Hard at Work and Play in Secondary

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There’s been lots of work going on in Secondary over the last couple of weeks. It’s good to see pupils continuing to to work towards ASDAN awards and SQA qualifications while learning remotely. There have also been some very successful Google Meets and I know the staff involved in these have very much enjoyed seeing you all!

We have one young lady who working on SQA: Looking After Animals. She is taking good care of her new kitten.

We have pupils working on SQA Leisure Time Activities. This supports us in trying out new activities alongside engaging in things we already know and enjoy.

We’ve also been keeping fit, both indoors and out. There is a great range of activities in the PE Google Classroom. Please do pop in for a look if you’ve not already done so. Throwing and catching has been practised this week.

Life Skills and Independence

We continue to work on our life skills and independence. We’ve been baking: scones, a rainbow cake and savoury pancakes are a few of the recipes we’ve tried. Cooking and baking are great ways to practice our numeracy skills.

Assembly ‘Homework’

Our Secondary Assembly theme was ‘Love’ and we’ve now been tasked with showing love for someone over the next two weeks. This can take many forms: doing something to help someone else, being kind to someone, doing something that someone else enjoys, or for our staff and parents, showing yourself some kindness and taking a bit of time for you!

Following our previous Assembly where we had a theme of ‘Express Yourself’ in line with Children’s Mental Health Week, we enjoyed seeing photos of how others have done this.

Reading and Relaxing at Home

Being Creative through Art and Music

Enjoying Time Outdoors

Exploring Maths In Room 10

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Room 10 have been busy investigating measurement using different materials.

We used connecting blocks and joined them together to see who make the tallest group of blocks and worked collaboratively to create the longest group.

We also took maths out into the playground, measuring the length of lines using leaves and other materials and comparing our heights to the width of the path. There was also an impromptu lesson on volume and capacity as we watched the dumper truck put a tonne of sand into our sandpit!