Maths in the early years.

Like most people I have had a love/hate relationship with maths my whole life, I loved it at primary because of particular teachers but quickly I came to hate it at secondary school and in fact was so bad at it, I only passed my 'O' level after being coached outside school. I actually developed a fear of maths and would break out in a cold sweat when asked to do mental maths etc. and my P.G.C.E year did nothing to convince me that maths was a subject I could do or enjoy. However luckily since I began teaching in nursery I have fallen in love with maths as subject again. 

If you had asked me a few years ago, I would have said that young children can learn their key academic skills in nursery through play by carefully chosen material to allow them to just develop skills like knowing colours, shapes, numbers, letters etc. But now I have revised this belief and it has been a journey that has coincided with many different events all coming together to help me realise that we need to actually teach key skills in a playful way with a particular emphasis on maths.

I have made some great on line friendships with other early years educators and some of them have helped me begin to realise that I do have a role as a teacher rather a mere facilitator in in classroom. I have been so fortunate to meet up with some of these friends and see them interact with young children, either in their own setting or with children in another setting. Unnur Henrys, a friend and colleague who teaches in Iceland has taught me so much about maths acquisition. I have watched her playing with dice in the forest with children as young as 2 who were excited to match items to the right number. Unnur has inspired me to have large dice in my playground to allow children to explore maths in their play. Lesley Romanoff, another friend and colleague in the U.S had shown me how smaller dice could be incorporated into everyday play inside and used as another 'loose part'. Before seeing them in her setting I would not have thought to have dice in my nursery classroom. Now I can't imagine not having them.

In 2018 our school began 2 new Erasmus Plus projects, a KA2 maths based project with preschools in Turkey, Finland, Croatia, Greece and Denmark  and a KA2 staff based CPD project. During the latter I got the opportunity to do a course in Iceland with Kristín and Sarah from Smart Teachers Play More that opened my eyes to the possibilities of how to teach core academic skills in playful manner. In our KA2 I have been fortunate to learn many new maths & science games and activities from my partners, you can read about this project here: http://nosuchthingasbadweather.blogspot.com/2019/10/erasmus-plus-ka2-finland.html

Sharing some maths activities with children in our partner school in Croatia. 

So, for the past 18 months we have been running 40 minute Play to Learn More sessions with the children once a week, they take part in small groups of 6 or 7 at a time. It has really opened my eyes to the fact that I need to teach key skills and allow children time to revisit these skills again and again in order to prefect them. The main classroom and playground are still set up in such a way as to allow the children to explore materials and transfer skills learned during the teaching session to their play sessions but we are purposely planning what exact skills we ant to teach during our PTLM sessions. 

PTLM sessions on colour and number. 

We were fortunate to have Juliet Robertson from Creative Star Learning Company deliver training last year locally and she introduced me to the owners of the Hungarian ten frame and since then I have found this resource invaluable in helping the children to begin the see the 'numberness' of 10. This particular resource seems easier for younger children than the traditional square ten frame. 

The Hungarian ten frame in action during play sessions indoors and outdoors. 

I was really interested to read the latest paper from The East London Research School this week that has shown that early maths has to be taught and can not just be simply picked up during play in preschools.  This paper can be read here: https://researchschool.org.uk/eastlondon/news/early-maths-easy-as-one-two-three/
In particular this sentence stood out for me "As a result, Davenall agrees with Sue Gifford’s earlier finding that children are 'unlikely to learn about number through independent play ... a laissez-faire approach to children learning maths in the 'secret garden of play' does not work. Opportunities may be there, but children will not necessarily take advantage of them'"

So I will continue to flood my classroom and playground with maths resources as before but I will consciously teach the children how to use them first before putting them out, some will continue to explore them in a mathematical way whilst others will simply play with them, that is ok but I'll know that I have at least given them all the skills to be a mathematician and to love, enjoy and be excited by maths. 

Iceland: Leikur ad læra - Play To Learn More

I love how small the world has become since social media came along, it is now so much easier to connect with people around the world and find like-minded individuals to connect with to share ideas etc. I have 'met' so many preschool teachers around the world on Facebook and Twitter and have enjoying learning from them as we discuss our practice and curriculums. 

However, nothing beats meeting up in person with someone and finding a true connection in real life. In 2013 I got the opportunity through Fafu (an Icelandic company) to go to Iceland as part of #PlayIceland with 33 other educators from around the UK and US. You can read about this visit in these two posts: https://nosuchthingasbadweather.blogspot.com/2013/10/settings-day-1-playiceland.html

https://nosuchthingasbadweather.blogspot.com/2013/10/settings-day-2-playiceland.html

During this visit on Day 2 we visited an incredible newly built school and one of their staff, Kristín, took the time to show us around the school, give us a taster session of a new way she was trying out teaching in the school. Then at the sharing event where we gave presentations about our settings, we heard from Kristín about her new venture Leikur að læra  she was just about to launch to have young children learning core skills through movement. We became friends on Facebook and stayed in touch. 

My colleagues & me in Iceland in February 2019

Roll on 2018 and our school secured funding through Erasmus Plus KA1 for staff to attend training and courses around Europe and Kristín's course were the first I thought of. In 2019 8 of our staff both teaching and non teaching travelled to Spain and Iceland to attend one of her week long courses Smart Teachers Play More. These courses are facilitated by Kristín and Sarah (who has a business called Smart English in Spain)

This has been one of the best courses I have ever attended and I recommend this to any one working in a school. You can read about the course in this post: https://nosuchthingasbadweather.blogspot.com/2019/07/erasmusplus-key-action-1.html

Through this course another colleague, Jill, also did the course and began to offer Play to Learn More sessions locally and our school signed up all the classes for 4 weeks of activities with Jill. as both of us in the nursery are now trained we then ran sessions with our class over 6 weeks from Easter until June. 

These sessions were the most fun I think we have all had whilst learning and let's face it as a nursery teacher every day is filed with fun! But more importantly the P1 teacher has noticed that the children are much more secure in their core skills this year after lots of practice during our PTLM sessions. 

Some of our PTLM activities. 

Whilst in Iceland in February for the course, Kristín mentioned that she was running a conference in October on Outdoor Learning and wondered if I would like to come along to do a workshop. I jumped at the chance, of course. 

In May Kristín came to Belfast to run a taster session for PTLM for local teachers and stayed with me and visited my class for a morning. 

Myself, Kristín & Jill in May 2019

So fast forward to October 2019 and I found myself on a flight to Iceland via Finland (where I had just been on an Erasmus Plus mobility) and attending a conference for over 450 teachers from Iceland who spent the whole day doing workshops to help them develop outdoor play and core learning skills for young children. The conference was held in an agricultural college and many of the events like lunch, coffee took place in an old green house with fish pond and exotic plants. The workshops were mostly outdoors but also some were inside. 

My workshop was titled 'Outdoor Learning - it doesn't have to cost a lot' and I had to run it 4 times over the day with between 20 and 40 participants at a time. It took place outside in the most amazing grounds of the college and thankfully it was dry but very windy. The teachers were so receptive and engaged and willing share ideas from their practice too. It was wonderful to have this opportunity to talk with international colleagues and compare similar issues and discuss what was different about our settings and practice. 

This is my 4th visit to Iceland and each time I visit I fall in love with it and it's people a little more. They are some of the warmest people I have every met and even more hospitable than the Irish. They have a true connection to nature and a respect for their environment that is lacking in a lot of other places. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to hang out with friends old and new and learn from each other. It also helped me firm up ideas for further workshops and  most importantly I learned that I had to change my pronunciation of the words eight and shape to be understood!

A huge thanks to Unnur & Kristín (and her whole family) for picking me up, putting me up and drinking coffee with me over the few days I got to stay in Iceland. 

#ErasmusPlus Key Action 1

*Whilst not deliberately a political post, it is impossible to talk about funding opportunities without mentioning Brexit and the loss of such opportunities for future pupils and teachers*

Since 2004 my school has taken part in many opportunities to travel and engage with colleagues and partners in projects and training across Europe through EU funding from the British Council and the Erasmus Plus programme.  The impact this has had on my teaching and therefore on the lives of the pupils who cross my path is immeasurable but needless to say it has been a positive one. It is one of the many reasons, I am disappointed and saddened that such opportunities are slipping away for future generations as England and Wales drags the rest of the UK out of the EU, against our wishes. 

Since October 2004, I personally have had the opportunity to travel to Italy, Norway, Poland, France, Germany, Sweden, Czech Republic, Iceland, Malta and Turkey to visit schools and take part in workshops and training. The friendships I have made during the past 15 years have been invaluable in helping me to develop my practice and grow as a preschool teacher. Our school has also hosted colleagues from Poland, Spain & Sweden and as a result I have had to really understand the 'why' of how I do things - when you have to explain your practice to someone else, you really begin to articulate why you do things or to question why you should continue to do things.

In 2013 I travelled to Iceland and met a very enthusiastic teacher called Kristín, who wanted to develop her ideas about how young children learn by moving and to show others how to make learning fun beyond preschool. Social media has made staying in touch with new friends in far flung places a lot easier & so Kristín and I were able to touch base ever so often through Facebook & I watched as her business Leikur að læra  grew and went from strength to strength. I saw that Kristín was now offering training for school staff funded by Erasmus Plus and planned for some staff to attend this training in Iceland. Our project 'Inclusive Creative Education for All' allowed 8 members of staff - both teachers and assistants - to attend a week long training course run by Kristín and Sarah from Smart English in Alicante under their partnership of 'Smart Teachers Play More', 4 went to Spain and 4 to Iceland and 2 of us to also travel to Malta to do another language based course. 

On our course in Iceland there were 22 people, it seemed like a big group but everyone worked really well together and it was incredible to get to mix with teachers from across Europe and who work with different age groups from preschool to adults. I learned so much from each of the participants over the week, never mind what I learned from our course providers. 

The inspiring Kristín in action.

The course operated from 9-3 every day for 5 days, each day flew by as we were learning a lot and on the move so much too. I have rarely attended a course where I gained something every hour that I knew I could take back to school and use immediately. 
Luckily both of us in the nursery - teacher and assistant were able to take part in this course and so we have been able to introduce aspects of the course into our everyday teaching. For the last 8 weeks of the school year we split the class into 4 groups of 7-8 children and had weekly 'Play To Learn More' sessions with children embracing the opportunity to climb over and under tables, move like crabs or snakes across tables and learn and consolidate core skills e..g numbers, colours and letters. We both can't wait for September when we can have a whole school year using the innovative method to introduce and consolidate academic skills. 

Our Play To Learn Mat has been wonderful for reinforcing key skills. 

During the first week of the summer break 2 of us travelled to Malta to undertake a 'Teaching English to Young Learners' course with Alpha School of English. 
This course offered practical advice on teaching young children English and the other participants were all Italian teachers wanting to introduce an element of English to their classrooms as opposed to ourselves who were thinking of how best to help our 'Newcomer' (the term used in N.Ireland for children who speak a language other than English at home) pupils acquire a good level of spoken English, quickly. 

One of the best aspects of this opportunities is the chance to connect with like minded teachers from across Europe - to share practice, ideas and talk about how we can learn from each other. Chatting with colleagues over coffee after the courses often provided valuable insights into ways to improve practice. 

Whilst we were in Malta for the last course of our current KA1 project I received word that our new application for a two year project enabling 15 members of staff to attend courses and a job shadowing scheme had been successful so thankfully these wonderful opportunities are still available for UK schools for now. 

Guest Post: How to celebrate Spring - Icelandic Style!

This post is from the wonderful Unnur from Leikskóilinn Stekkjarás in Hafnarfjördur, Iceland. I have been so fortunate to visit Unnur in her school twice now and each time her enthusiasm and great attitude have been infectious. Here is a wonderful little post about how they let the children celebrate the warmer Spring weather, keep active and there is lots of problem solving & collaboration happening too. (As Unnur said herself: "Hopefully the pictures will tell you a little story as well")

'Get the hat/scarf out of the tree' - such a simple game!

Spring greetings from Iceland.  Yes we are optimistic here and the first sign is when we go into the woods and play the 'Get my hat out of the tree' game. We have played this game for a couple of years now and it is always fun time and a sign that the children are waiting to go out to play without winter jackets. 

The game is normally played around a tree that is either dead or about to be chopped down. So we need to throw our hats as high up in the tree as possible and either shake the tree if it is a tree that is going to be chopped down or if the tree is still in good condition then we go and find some long sticks and take turns in getting our hats down.  

 

Sometimes we need to ask a friend to help if we can't reach and sometimes we need to help a friend to find a better angle to get the hat down.

A fun thing to do when the we don't bring anything with us to the woods except good humour and warm things like hats & scarves that aren't needed.

Hope you all have a good Spring. 

Unna 

Introducing two year olds to the wider outdoors - guest post from Iceland.

This post is written by Unnur Henrysdottir, a preschool colleague from Hafnarfjordur in Iceland who I was fortunate enough to connect with over 4 years ago and have subsequently visited on 2 occasions. She is an inspiring practitioner and has been so kind to give us a little glimpse into how she introduces her youngest pupils to the wider outdoor experience beyond the playground.

Lesley ( from Takoma Park Cooperative Nursery School)  Unnur & myself in Reykjavik last October.

Unnur writes: Here is a little inside into our trips with the youngest students in my class to the woods.This year my class has four different age groups and the youngest in the group are just two, so even though the walk to our woods is not that long it can be little difficult for short feet fully clothed in thick winter overalls. 

 My motto is to go and explore, have fun and maybe come back with some stones or sticks if we are lucky. With the younger children, rather than go on the same day every week we go when the weather is decent.  The older group goes every Tuesday, good weather or not. In the big woods were we take the older children to, it's full of places with trees to crawl between and places to get lost. So instead of going there and feeling like I would be stopping the younger ones from exploring what ever they want to I was lucky enough to find a more open space for us to practice. 

There are still some trees to use, there is a mysterious house/cabin there with a door but no keyhole so how do we go about opening this mysterious door?  And there is a big fish tank there full of gravel to play with. There is even a big trolley there to sit in and play with.

We always take our school trolley with us and in that we put things like drinks, snacks and few things to play with, like dices, magnifying glasses, a white cloth to write on or use to look at things we find and would like to explore better. It is always good when you can go out to play and explore and follow the children's curiosity. 

I find that because we keep going to the same place, we find the children get confident in what they are going to do and are more capable of taking on new challenges which is what I like to see with my group. 

Until next time best regards from us in Blásteinn Iceland 

You can follow more of the adventures of this wonderful preschool here over on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Stekkjarás-leikskóli-344648402319950/

When educators are trusted. #educationiceland

Team #educationiceland

I have just returned from a week in Iceland as part of the #educationiceland group organised by Martin Besford of Highway Farm Activity Centre in Cornwall  & Unnur Henrys of Stekkjarás Leikskóli, Hafnarfjordur, Iceland. The original idea behind this visit was to bring a group of educators from the Cornwall area over to Iceland to begin to make links with schools between the 2 areas - however in the end there were people from outside Cornwall too. 
Martin & Unnur met up for the first time 3 years ago when Martin & I were part of another  group that visited Iceland - #playiceland - organised by Hulda & Tom of Fafu. I had become friends with Unnur through social media & knew I had to visit her school when I got the opportunity to go to Iceland, luckily her school was willing to have 2 groups visit over the 2 days we were looking around schools. Martin & Unnur became firm friends & their respective schools have become partners & have visited each others settings frequently in the past 3 years.
So, when these two said they were organising week long visit & a conference and asked me to come along and do a workshop at it, I jumped at the chance to firstly get another chance to spend time in Unnur's school but secondly to meet up again with people who have become firm friends in the past 3 years - Martin, Unnur & Lesley from Takoma Park Cooperative Nursery School.

In October 2013 when I first visited Stekkjarás Leikskóli, it was a fairly new school - just 7 years old and the ethos was very much Reggio based. You can read about this original visit here: http://nosuchthingasbadweather.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/settings-day-1-playiceland.html
3 years ago what I noticed was that Unnur was an extremely enthusiastic educator who was passionate about getting her class outdoors & using the amazing forest area that was right on the school's doorstep. The biggest question most of us had was how she managed to take 2 year olds out into such a vast space, as the classes were mixed aged groups with children ranging from 2 - 5 in every class. Unnur & I had connected when she had seen some photos of my class outdoors and we had begun to chat on line about the various ways we could convince our colleagues to embrace the outdoors too. 
This time round I could see that Unnur is much more confident in her practice and is very much an expert in this field - I could see that other colleagues looked to her for advice or ideas on how to enhance their outdoor experiences. By going twice a week every week with her classes, Unnur has become so much more confident in all that she does in the space, it is now very much 'their' space, the children are very familiar with it, as some of them have being going there for 3 years & the staff aren't afraid to take resources with them to use in the space - or take fallen trees back to use in the school.
This space & the way this preschool uses it is unique to them & this beautiful wild setting - they could have tried to replicate things they had seen online or in other countries but instead by visiting other settings & countries, the staff are all confident to know what will work for them & what won't.

But of me the biggest message is that the staff were allowed the time to explore the space and to decide on an ethos that suited them, they don't have the pressure from above to comply to certain whims that are seen to be the latest 'must have' in education. More and more staff members are making use of the wonderful outdoor space because they can see the benefits, the children are happier & there are plenty of little natural decorations around the school that they have brought back with them over the past few years. The teachers in this school have embraced every opportunity to widen their perspective and especially Unnur, who has visited lots of settings across the UK and further a field to help sustain her enthusiasm and embed her wonderful outdoor practice into her every day teaching.  It was wonderful to see her lead a maths lesson out in the forest and to see how every opportunity of training has been harnessed by her and brought back to be used in her own setting.

Unnur a passionate & enthusiastic educator.

For those us from the UK & US who were spending time at the school, the biggest questions featured around paper work & risk management. The teachers from Scotland & England were amazed that their colleagues in Iceland don't have endless reams of paper work to fill out before they can take classes off site & they don't have the same pressure to capture data to prove that the children in their classes are learning - parents and school boards are confident that the teachers are working hard each day to ensure progression in learning & they TRUST the teachers to get on with jobs without constant observations and lots of paper work to prove it. 

I only wish Iceland & Ireland were nearer so I could visit Unnur's school more often & that our classes could meet up - my class were so delighted to see my photos from my visit but also very disappointed that they can't go & meet the children too!