Maths
Space & Measurement
1
Lay the groundwork
Practices to whakaritea te pārekereke prepare the seedbed for all children.
Start by working with all the children in your setting. Create an environment that can support children to build skills related to Space & Measurement.
- Consider your current environment and how you could make it better.
- Talk to others about what you are already doing.
- Select practices that will be meaningful in your setting.
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Why is this practice important?
When mokopuna experience and make sense of the spatial world around them, they then learn how people, places and things are spatially related. They will do this at their own pace and in their own way. Mokopuna bring knowledge and experiences of space, movement and location from their home, whānau, and community contexts. They explore and make meaning when moving and positioning themselves within spaces. They also explore two-and three-dimensional spaces, and measurement through distance.How to apply this practice in your setting:
Connect with children to learn what they already know about movement and location, and engage with whānau on children’s experiences of these concepts at home or in the community. Respect the cultural knowledge they bring.
Share with whānau the ways that children experience movement and location within the setting ( e.g., how they navigate indoor and outdoor spaces - large, small, open, or enclosed - and how they use or create ‘pathways’ between spaces).
Identify spaces in your setting that allow for playful exploration with movement or observation of location. How do children explore under, around, and through these spaces? Do they create real or imagined pathways or circuits? How do you as a team support this exploration?
Identify and plan for regular happenings that support the enjoyment and exploration of movement and position in culturally relevant ways (e.g., through waiata, kanikani, kapa haka, games for children to express movement with their bodies, or outings to familiar locations such as the park, bush area, or shops).
As a team, discuss ways to incorporate descriptive language or gesture in order to identify and model spatial features and positional language (e.g., big, small, under, over, near, long way, away, and next to).
Highlight spatial situations within stories, songs, games or daily routines, and encourage children to notice different perspectives resulting from movement and location (e.g., "She’s underneath, I wonder what she can see from there?”).
As a team, identify opportunities for children to explore movement and location in routines and regular events (e.g., social and verbal exchanges, dance, games, and pathways between spaces), and plan ways to extend the range of these.
Why is this practice important?
When children are curious about and explore shapes, they will try out how different shapes move or fit together. When investigating a spatial problem or posing questions, children use and test out how different shapes ‘work’ in a variety of situations, including how they can be combined with other objects. As part of this, they may develop working theories. Experimenting with shapes, including combining or splitting them up, helps children to structure and transform their spatial world.How to apply this practice in your setting:
Take time to collaborate with children and their whānau to learn about children’s experiences of shape at home or in the community, and respect the cultural knowledge and language they bring.
Share with whānau the ways that children experience and explore shape within the setting ( e.g., through books, games, puzzles, art, blocks, family play, natural materials, and carpentry).
Identify and review resources to ensure that all children can access a range of culturally relevant materials that enable them to notice features and compare, rotate, flip, pull apart, or combine different shapes. Are resources displayed in an inviting and orderly way throughout the setting?
Create a range of opportunities for children to engage in construction and building experiences. Allow time and space for children to select, position, adapt, predict, and test out their ideas when exploring, investigating, or constructing with shapes. Invite children to revisit these experiences.
As a team, discuss ways to incorporate descriptive language or gestures for the names and features of shapes (e.g., pointy, round, and straight). Support children to communicate their thinking and experiences in a variety of modes (e.g., through gesture, movement, sign language, building models or drawing).
Model, and encourage children to wonder and question, as they explore different shapes and objects that relate to their interests and investigations. Show them how some materials or shapes can be folded, moved or re-shaped (e.g., folding washing or paper, and reshaping sand, clay or playdough).
Why is this practice important?
When children explore movement, location, and shape, they can also explore measurement - distance, size and quantity (e.g., when a tree is located close to the sandpit (distance), same-shaped blocks are different sizes (size), and when different shapes are made from the same quantity of clay (quantity). Exploring measurement expands children’s understandings of concepts such as similarity and difference, length, height, and area. This helps them to classify, predict, share working theories, and solve problems.How to apply this practice in your setting:
Take time to engage with whānau to learn about children’s experiences of measurement at home or in the community, and to respect the cultural knowledge they bring.
Share with whānau the ways that children might explore and use measurement within the setting (e.g., during block construction, when baking, or when dancing closer together or apar)..
Identify and plan further opportunities to support the enjoyment and exploration of measurement in culturally relevant ways (e.g., navigating distance during siva dance, or measuring handspans between seeds when planting). How do you as a team draw attention to the measurement opportunities in everyday experiences or routines?
As a team, discuss ways of communicating about measurement aspects of movement, location, or shape, including introducing rich language (e.g., “Will the fabric stretch twice as far?”).