Help! Maths Investigation Ideas Needed!

[Guest]

I have just received a phone call from my maths co-ordinator who has apparently just had an inspirational thought...she is leading this weeks staff meeting and has asked me if I will set up and run a short, FS style maths investigation for the other members of staff to participate in.

 

As it is Sunday evening( ) and I'm not feeling anywhere as near inspired as her, I am calling on all of you to assist me! The investigation can be about any aspect of maths but I obviously want to demonstrate to certain other members of staff that are very unaware of FS that the children are learning something even though they are up and about and not writing anything down!

 

Any ideas are gratefully received.

 

HELP ME PLEASE!

 

Thanx

[Guest]

What about a basket of ribbons of various lengths- activity to grade the ribbons by length from the shortest to the longest. Or sort them into two sets - one longer than the basket / shorter than the basket. You could also sort them by colour/pattern and then count the number in each set. Maybe you could use a form of tallying to record the number in each set.

[JacquieL]

Hmm maths is an activity integrated into other learning but you could sum it up. Ask them to build a castle with wooden building blocks, give them the sort of book you might put into continuous provision to stimulate the children. After they have built it get them to draw a plan of it- knock it down and ask them to build it from the plan. What have they learnt? Talk about what the children would learn. Explain that this would normally be an activity over several days and intervention would be sensitive, rather than telling the children wht to do- but it will give some ideas.

If you need something more obviously maths then set up a simulation of hospital role-play and enact a scenario of a patient arriving, being checked in by a receptionist, weighed, measured and discuss ways young children might record this.

[Guest]

What about something seasonal using shape - make a Christmas Tree from triangles.

[Rea]

I did one recently about shape. One of our puppets had a bag with a hole in it, she had lost some shapes, and needed the childrens help to fnd them. She still had one of each shape in the bag to give examples. Circle, square (cube) oblong and triangle (try to use equalateral (sp?) and isosolise(sp?) The triangle is still a triangle but they have to explain why. The children went in pairs around the room with a clip board and collected shapes we'd hidden earlier, they had to come back to the mat and show the other children what they'd found, with disciptions of the shape, naming them and discussing why they were that particular shape with the adult asking questions. Your shape has 4 corners is it a square, why not? You know the sort of thing. They used the clipboards to write down what they'd found and then we helped them to make a chart. It worked pretty well with the older children but we're in one room so the 2 yr olds sometimes played with the shapes instead of collecting them to discuss. I'll do it again though.

Appologies for dreadful spelling

[Inge]

we do as mimi sai but using old socks, match, length, colour, size, how amny, pairs or the odd one at the bottom of the basket, peg them on a line in pairs by same as above, etc . Children come up with own ideas of course.

 

Inge

[Guest]

Some great ideas as usually guys!

 

Thanx!

[wellerkaren]

I may be a bit late for you. You could use different sixze boxes you can different sized boxes from ikea really cheap. the children can sort these by colour , if you add a dice and buttons you can get the children to put the number trown into the boxes