These interconnected mātāpono aronui provide rich contexts for learning in create and communicate maths in the early years.
Whatumanawa is the mauri / essence of the emotions of children. Nurturing mauri supports children to be open to learning.
We nurture mauri when we create environments that respect the ways children create and communicate maths through play, routines, and everyday experiences. For example:
- interactions introduce new maths language when discussing the constructions and drawings of children,
- materials enable children to make drawings, diagrams and to re-represent their constructions in different settings, and
- routines utilise maths representations made by children, e.g. a sunblock chart designed by children.
Whare has a dual meaning: the home of children and ‘house of learning’. These are not necessarily physical buildings but are ‘houses of knowledge'. Maths has a distinct whare of both Pākehā and Māori knowledge, and it is our role to support children to enter into and explore this whare.
We can support children to explore this whare by creating purposeful environments for children to create and communicate maths through play, routines and everyday experiences. For example:
- interactions encourage children to describe the ways they solve maths problems when constructing,
- materials provide opportunities for children to create and communicate maths in increasingly complex ways, and
- routines encourage children to communicate their maths understandings, e.g. by reading and discussing books about relative size or patterns.
Whānau speaks to the important interpersonal relationships of children. Children develop tuakana teina relationships with people at home, within the early learning centre and in the wider community. Maths connections and relationships also work together as a ‘maths whānau’ such as patterns used in models or representations. The mātāpono aronui ‘whānau’ provide a context for children to recognise these connections and interpersonal relationships.
We can strengthen this context by creating environments that help children to create and communicate maths throughout their play, routines and everyday experiences in relational ways. For example:
- interactions notice, recognise and respond to the ways children represent their maths ideas,
- materials and space enable children to revisit their constructions through drawing, and
- routines provide opportunities for children to share and discuss their representations with others, including with their whānau.
Whenua refers to land and also means placenta. Returning the placenta to the whenua when children are born connects them to their land, to Papatūānuku, and to their whakapapa back to atua Māori. The mātāpono aronui ‘whenua’ provide a context for children to make connections to natural areas of collective belonging.
We can strengthen this context by creating environments that enable children to use the natural world to create and communicate maths through play, routines and everyday experiences. For example:
- interactions draw attention to similarities and differences between the natural world and the representations of children,
- materials from nature are presented in orderly ways to highlight similarity, difference, and groupings such as sticks of different textures kept in different kete, and
- routines use charts created by children to nurture the natural environment such as a visual display of who will feed the worms each day.
