This revised and updated third edition offers a range of strategies, activities and ideas to bring mathematics to life in the primary classroom. Taking an innovative and playful approach to maths teaching, this book promotes creativity as a key element of practice and offers ideas to help your students develop knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of the subject.
In the creative classroom, mathematics becomes a tool to build confidence, develop problem solving skills and motivate children. The fresh approaches explored in this book include a range of activities such as storytelling, music and construction, elevating maths learning beyond subject knowledge itself to enable students to see mathematics in a new way.
Key chapters of this book explore:
• Learning maths outdoors - make more noise, make more mess or work on a larger scale
• Everyday maths - making sense of the numbers, patterns, shapes and measures children see around them
• Music and maths – the role of rhythm in learning, and music and pattern in maths
Stimulating, accessible and underpinned by the latest research and theory, this is essential reading for trainee and practising teachers who wish to embed creative approaches to maths teaching in their classroom.
List of figures List of tables Series editor preface Chapter 1: Introduction: What counts as creative mathematics? Chapter 2: I hate maths! Positive feelings, creative dispositions and mathematics Chapter 3: Motivating children: Problem finding and problem solving Chapter 4: Developing understanding: Seeing, talking and thinking mathematically Chapter 5: Real maths! The mathematical potential in children’s lives Chapter 6: Once upon a time: Using story to learn and teach maths Chapter 7: Giant maths: The joy of solving enormous problems Chapter 8: Across the curriculum: Putting mathematics at the heart Chapter 9: Mathematical patterns: Playing music, maths and art Chapter 10: Building mathematical understanding: Constructing and deconstructing Chapter 11: Mathematics outdoors: the world beyond the classroom Chapter 12: In conclusion: Playful teaching List of mathematical activities References
Biography
Linda Pound has great educational experience and has published extensively in the fields of children’s learning, creativity and mathematical development. She is an Early Years Education Consultant, running workshops and offering advice on both educational policy and practice.
Trisha Lee is Founder and Artistic Director of MakeBelieve Arts, an education charity that believes in the power of story to engage children with learning. Trisha pioneered the work of Vivian Gussin Paley in the UK through her Helicopter Stories approach and is a regular speaker and writer around creative education, particularly in the early years.
