| Help your children through everyday activities |
Here are some examples of how some families help their children
with learning. The same activities may not go on in your family,
but these descriptions may give you ideas for how you could involve
your child with the things that you do. Children pick up many
of their ideas from what happens in their families. The children
in the following case studies have obviously had a good start
when it comes to learning that they can use in real life and in
school. It's worth looking at the calculations that you do in
everyday life and encouraging your children to join in with them.
Case studies
- Sally
Sally is six and her aunt and uncle run a fruit and vegetable
stall. Sally spends quite a bit of time at their stall. For such
a young child, she understands a lot about money. She knows that
people hand over money in exchange for food. She knows that they
sometimes get money back, as well as food. She doesn't know exactly
what every coin is worth, but her aunt and uncle help her understand
that there are some important differences between the coins. All
this is a help to Sally as she learns to do calculations with
money at school.
- Ravi
Ravi is nearly nine and his mother runs a catalogue, taking orders
for her friends and neighbours. Sometimes Ravi is with her while
she does her paperwork - filling in order forms, checking statements
and so on. When she has time, she involves him in what she's doing
and he has a chance to see how she writes numbers and then to
find the order numbers for her. Ravi is getting experience of
counting and using large numbers and his mother encourages him
to read the amounts she writes down and to count the money she
collects.
- Maeve
Maeve is eight. Her parents are doing some work on their flat,
and they are happy to let her help with some of the things they
have to do. From this, she is able to learn a lot about counting,
measurement and estimation. For instance, she helps as they measure
wood for shelves and counts out the screws they need to put them
up. They all talk about whether the paint in a particular tin
will be enough to cover a wall and Maeve is able to see whether
their estimates are about right.
- James
James, who is only three, has an older sister. They both help
their mother make soft toys. His mother and sister have a set
routine for making each toy. They put the various parts in order
on a long table, and then they put them together in a certain
way. Because his mother and sister have let him help, James knows
that you cannot put a doll's hands on its body until you've put
it's arms on. So he's learning about the order in which things
need to be done and ideas about order are very important in calculation.
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