Help! Outstanding Numeracy Lesson Needed!

[Guest]

Hi, I have been reading alot on this forum and looking at the fantastic information and ideas everyone on here has and so thought i would see if I too could get some brilliant advice!

 

I am having my first lesson observation as a reception teacher on thursday, I have been in reception since september and absolutely love it!

 

My lesson is a numeracy focused session and is based around the enormous turnip, I am planning on doing a comparing measures (weight) adult led activity and asking the children to sort enormous and small objects as one activity. Today in literacy I completed teacher in role drama as the farmer (farmer turnip) to engage the children in the story and we spent the whole afternoon in the garden, pulling turnips up, role playing, hunting for things we could pull, cutting/chopping turnips and other veg for turnip soup etc... the children were so engaged and i want a similar exciting and engaging start to my numeracy session on thurs....

 

Does anybody have any fab suggestions on an outstanding and engaging lesson start or some CI or adult led activities that have gone really well before?

 

Any help would be really appreciated!!

 

Thankyou in advance,

 

EmieJ

[Guest sonyakee]

Hi EmieJ

 

Good luck with your lesson. I love how you've linked the story to other areas of the curriculum, i bet the kids loved it!

Weight/Size is probably the best way to go for this lesson.

I'm just a little worried that you want to use the word 'enormous' in your Numeracy lesson. I don't think it's really a mathematical term I would use in a lesson where you are comparing the weight and size of everyday classroom objects (if thats what you're using??). I think enormous has to be something even bigger than a child for it to seem enormous to them??? I might be wrong though! It's a tricky concept i guess. Maybe you could use big/bigger/small/smaller instead? (Looking at the EYFS ELG?) Asking them questions e.g. is this object big/small? can you find 1 bigger/smaller than this... so do you think it will be heavier/lighter than....??

 

I dunno if this will help or not but if you want your lesson to be outstanding you might need to think about the mathematical terms youre using.

 

Good luck!

[trasong]

Hi Emie J

 

Last year as part of our food topic I bought a selection of root vegetables with the leaves still on such as carrots and beetroot and I planted them in compost in washing up bowls. Drawing on their previous experience of Olivers vegetables I encouraged the children to make suggestions of what they may be, then get them to pull it out. The children were really curious and engaged, and the parents too, as i had left it on the table ready for group time. They were all stood around trying to guess what they were looking to me for confirmation.

 

Maybe you could use something along these lines but try and get fifferent sized vegetables and discuss/ order the vegetables. Just a thought.

[Guest]

Last year as part of our food topic I bought a selection of root vegetables with the leaves still on such as carrots and beetroot and I planted them in compost in washing up bowls. Drawing on their previous experience of Olivers vegetables I encouraged the children to make suggestions of what they may be, then get them to pull it out. The children were really curious and engaged, and the parents too, as i had left it on the table ready for group time. They were all stood around trying to guess what they were looking to me for confirmation.

 

Maybe you could use something along these lines but try and get fifferent sized vegetables and discuss/ order the vegetables. Just a thought.

 

I love that idea trasong - think I might try that myself! Thanks

[Guest]

Hi,

I don't exactly have an idea for an activity, but can I suggest that if you are going to do some sort of comparing weights activity that you make sure you have some bigger items that are lighter than some smaller ones to make sure that the children don't confuse bigger with heavier. You could get them to guess which item will be heavier/ lighter before they start weighing just by looking, then by holding them, then let them weigh them. Hopefully someone will think the bigger things will be heavier and this will spark a good discussion. At this time of night my brain isn't working so I can't remember what I've used in the past as a big light object and a small heavy object but you get the idea.

You could also maybe use things that look the same but weigh different, e.g. 2 balloons blown to the same size but one has sand in it to make it heavier.

I hope this is useful

[Guest]

Thankyou all for your fabulous ideas! sorry I have not been on sooner to say thanks! My observation was sadly cancelled due to illness! But I did get observed this week and it went very well! I will certainly be using your ideas when I re-do this lesson. Thanks again.

EmieJ

[Susan]

Well done Emie.