Maths Awareness Month: fluency and fun in the early years

Examples of fluency with numbers include:

• Recognising the numerals 0-10, even when they are not presented in order

• Being able to say the count sequence forwards, or backwards, correctly

Promoting fluency is important, because it helps children to remember numbers and sequences. This is knowledge they can use to build up further learning in maths, like adding and subtracting, or sharing and grouping objects.

As educators, we can help children develop fluency in counting through lots of practice and repetition like number songs and rhymes, and everyday opportunities to count and recognise numerals. If there is a pot in the mark-making area labelled ‘5 pencils’, we can help children to recognise the numeral ‘5’ and practise gathering up exactly five pencils and putting them all in the pot. If trikes are labelled 1-3, with corresponding labels for their parking spaces, children can practise recognising and matching those numerals.

We can also help children to develop fluency through ‘choral responses’, encouraging the whole group to join in with counting, or to say what they think the next number will be.

Whilst learning through practice and repetition is important, it’s also vital that we focus on deepening children’s conceptual understanding. The EEF’s guidance report, Improving Mathematics in the Early Years and Key Stage 1, makes the important point that:

‘Even if children appear to be engaging in mathematical activities (e.g., reciting the count sequence), they may not have a full grasp of the underlying concepts (e.g., understanding the meaning of the numbers in the count sequence).’

In the video below, you can see one educator’s approach as Fliss shares the picturebook Anno’s Counting Story with three children. Notice how she:

• focuses the children’s attention on the numerals

• encourages a choral response, prompting the children to reply collectively when she says ‘the number that comes after zero is …?’

• helps the children to develop their conceptual understanding of number, highlighting composition. When they notice that there are three flying birds on one side of the double-page and one on the other, Fliss takes the opportunity to count the whole set and say ‘three and one makes four all together’

• draws children’s attention to the idea of grouping, saying that ‘there are lots of different groups of three

• allows the children to lead much of the discussion, whilst also sensitively taking them back to the book’s focus on number
• makes early maths learning feel relaxed and enjoyable

It may be most helpful to use the clip as a jumping-off point for reflection on the Promoting Fluency with Numbers and Sequences approach on the Early Years Evidence Store.

Considering the context of your setting and the children you work with:

• How might you ensure that every child can take part in this important learning and secure the foundational knowledge they need?

• How might you use everyday routines, songs and rhymes, as well as carefully planned activities and play-based learning?