Our governors are doing a learning walk of the school looking at Maths displays - what would you expect to see in classrooms and the communal areas of the school?
I would want to see a maths learning journey and practical maths resources in the classrooms and an 'I can do maths' attitude around the school. Here are some ways to implement these maths displays.
I would want to see a maths learning journey and practical maths resources in the classrooms and an 'I can do maths' attitude around the school. Here are some ways to implement these maths displays.
• An up-to-date maths learning journey on display in each classroom would be one of the main things I would want see - and referred to in the lesson.
• Practical resources that are easily accessible, labelled and used by the children in the classroom. There could be a maths table or trays or whatever, but something that shows the value of the practical nature of maths.
• A positive 'I can do it, 'I love maths!' feel to some of the displays around the school. There could be a 'Mathematician of the month' area, a 'Have a go...' problem of the week display, an indoor maths trail for children to follow, maths games set up to play and perhaps posters about the wonder of mathematics.
I would also be looking for maths being used across other subjects, so if there is a science display make the most of opportunities to show data or use maths to record totals, averages or whatever. Anything to help children to have a positive view of maths and to see that they need to work hard to be good at maths as it is used widely in their everyday life.
• Practical resources that are easily accessible, labelled and used by the children in the classroom. There could be a maths table or trays or whatever, but something that shows the value of the practical nature of maths.
• A positive 'I can do it, 'I love maths!' feel to some of the displays around the school. There could be a 'Mathematician of the month' area, a 'Have a go...' problem of the week display, an indoor maths trail for children to follow, maths games set up to play and perhaps posters about the wonder of mathematics.
I would also be looking for maths being used across other subjects, so if there is a science display make the most of opportunities to show data or use maths to record totals, averages or whatever. Anything to help children to have a positive view of maths and to see that they need to work hard to be good at maths as it is used widely in their everyday life.
Learning journeys
A learning journey needs to be a mix of problems / questions / language /
Take a look at this article 'Linking a learning journey to a working wall'. It looks at the features of both and how they are different, but shows how they can be linked together.
Here are photos showing two learning journeys from schools I have visited.
Take a look at this article 'Linking a learning journey to a working wall'. It looks at the features of both and how they are different, but shows how they can be linked together.
Here are photos showing two learning journeys from schools I have visited.
Here are two examples of target displays.
The Target Mountain has a single target of learning multiplication facts. This can be made more collaborative by saying that your class is a team of mountaineers and everyone has to help each other to get to the snowy top. This encourages peer mentoring to help those that need it with learning the x 4 facts and reach the base of the snowy peak.
The Target Tree can have leaves or hands and, as you can see, individual targets are written as a sentence for each child, so this makes it much more detailed.
The Target Mountain has a single target of learning multiplication facts. This can be made more collaborative by saying that your class is a team of mountaineers and everyone has to help each other to get to the snowy top. This encourages peer mentoring to help those that need it with learning the x 4 facts and reach the base of the snowy peak.
The Target Tree can have leaves or hands and, as you can see, individual targets are written as a sentence for each child, so this makes it much more detailed.
And don't forget your teachers!
A staffroom display can help remind teachers of questioning techniques and asking those all important questions:
'How do you do that? Explain your method.'
'What do you notice about... these shapes, ... the number pattern?'
'Prove it! ....How can you prove 8 is an even number? ...How do you know this is a triangle?'
